Bloody Whiskers
by MystikD109
Summary: Naruto's hyperactive happiness is a mask, but what does it hide? His sadness and loneliness or his hatred and anger? The Kyuubi hasn't been a foreign concept to Naruto for a long time now, but a demonic link must be hidden at all cost, but for how long?
1. So it Began

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"blah" speech  
"_blah_" thoughts  
"**blah**" Kyuubi's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Kyuubi's thoughts

Closing thoughts for ANC fans: There will not be and epilogue, or a sequel (as of right now). The epilogue I leave to your individual imaginations :-).

Honestly, I didn't think I'd have this out b4 the start of next week. But seeing as how half of the 1st chapter had already bn written several months b4... it only took 1-2hrs to complete it.  
Oh and this story-around, I have a beta... which is actually a lot more helpful then I first thought. Also it gives me someone to talk to about the story.

**As of 9/23/08**: A lot of things added and deleted; if you have not already done so, I suggest a re-read.

* * *

Chapter 1 – So It Began

It was quite a lively night in the Village Hidden in Leaves and rightly so with the annual festival in full swing. The village was celebrating the defeat of the nine-tailed demon fox that had attacked the village just eight years ago. However, while the children believed that the demon had been killed, the teenagers and adults knew otherwise.

This brings us to a dark alley halfway across town where a little kid with bright blond hair is writhing in pain on the cold ground. Around him are four laughing teenagers that seem to draw great pleasure out of inflicting pain on the child.

"Serves you right demon," one of them commented and kicked the little boy in the ribs again.

The boy yelps in pain and crawls closer to the wall hoping to at least shield some of his body from blows.

"I think it's trying to run away."

"As if we'll let it," was the snickering reply. The onslaught of kicks continued until a particularly loud crack was heard and the teenagers realized that they had kicked the blond boy's head against the wall hard enough for blood to spill out.

"With the way blood's pooling I think we killed it."

"Great! Now we can go enjoy the festivities for real!"

The four teens left after that and soon after a person dislodged himself from shadows of a far wall. He pulled out a small scroll, unraveled it, and channeled his chakra into it. A thin blue line of chakra stretched out from the scroll and linked with the blond boy's stomach.

)))))Flashback(((((

"You're sure this will work?" asked a man with long silvery hair.

The other man sighed; they had been through this already, "Yes, I'm sure. The jutsu sealed into that scroll will dislodge the seal just enough to allow for contact and ability absorption."

The long-haired man didn't let up, "How can you be so sure that the jutsu will find its target? If it misses we won't have another chance like this for at least a couple months."

"That part's easy, you're the one doing the jutsu," replied the spiky-haired man.

"And exactly how much are you dislodging the seal by?"

"Same amount as with the other one," was the simple uncaring reply.

"What? That is entirely too much! Especially since this is an unsupervised event. If something happens, if something goes wrong we will be completely out of options."

The spiky-haired man looked up in confusion, "Why are you getting so worked up? The other survived it no problem. Not only that, but I had to dislodge it further because it wasn't enough. This IS the Kyuubi we're talking about, a half-assed, half-done, and overly cautious dislodging is out of the question. You really want to go back and do a secondary dislodging? Not to mention the fact that the second time around the Kyuubi will be watching; we, or rather I, don't want to be revealed four years too early."

)))))Flashback End((((((

'_I hope he's right,'_ though the silver-haired man. '_It found its target quite easily, and I can sense the Kyuubi's chakra much more clearly.'_ The man waited for a couple minutes after the jutsu had taken effect to make sure the blonde's broken skull had healed before vanishing.

**Four Years Later**

Naruto sat on the swing outside the ninja academy seeming heart-broken to the outside world, but actually he was in the deep recesses of his mind.

"_Hey Kyu, why couldn't I just make the clones? Why did you have me do it wrong?_" asked Naruto disappointed that he had to play this part again.

"**Because of that other teacher... Mizuki, I believe his name is..."**

"_Yes, I noticed the glare too_," said Naruto calmly, "_but it was just like any other_."

"**No, I believe he will be of much use to us,"** stated the Kyuubi.

"_He does seem like a selfish one,_" said Naruto.

"**And that is going to be his downfall**," concluded the Kyuubi.

Naruto felt the familiar tugging feeling that accompanied urgent situations in the real world. He snapped out of his trance and saw Mizuki approach him. After quick exchange, he followed the chuunin to a place where they could talk.

Naruto knew Mizuki's purpose wasn't anything kind, but he just played along for curiosity. Soon Mizuki offered him a special second chance for passing the Genin Exam, to learn a special jutsu that was in a certain scroll in the Hokage's personal scroll room. Naruto, always being up for learning new jutsus, accepted the offer and went off to the Hokage's house.

"_Hey Kyu, what do you think of this whole scroll business?_" asked Naruto inside his head.

"**If this scroll is what I think it is, then we may have just hit jackpot**," responded the Kyuubi.

Naruto managed to get inside, surprised that he encountered minimal resistance. Even then, the guard that was guarding the entrance didn't see Naruto's shadow as he ran up the wall. A part of Naruto felt as though this was a trap, '_Why else would they have let me in so easily?'_ he pondered as he cautiously made his way through the building, hoping not to meet up with the Hokage.

But it seemed that his luck had run out when he heard a stern voice behind him asking what he was doing here. Naruto knew that he no match for the Hokage in combat, so he decided to improvise and 'cheat' a little.

"Sexy no Jutsu!" he yelled and transformed into a completely naked, well-rounded blond girl. The Hokage was down on the ground with blood gushing out of his nose faster than Iruka. Naruto raised his eyebrows, "Are all adults perverts or something?"

The blonde left the Sandaime to bleed profusely from his nose, while he quickly made his way to the scroll room to find the right scroll. After finding it Naruto went over to the window and opened it. After making sure that the scroll was tightly strapped to his back, he jumped out and ran towards the forest as a solitary figure watched from behind a nearby building.

'_He better have gotten the right scroll,'_ thought Mizuki. '_I didn't put up all those high-level, not to mention chakra exhausting, genjutsus around the Hokage's house for that idiot to grab the wrong scroll.'_

Immediately after arriving in the designated area, Naruto opened up the scroll and began reading.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu," he said.

"**This is it!**" said a very happy Kyuubi chuckling darkly.

"_What?_" asked a bewildered Naruto.

"**This is the Forbidden Scroll of Seals**," the Kyuubi chuckled evilly.

"_Meaning all the techniques in here are forbidden,"_ concluded Naruto.

"**Precisely… and IT must also be in here," **said the Kyuubi.

Naruto knew that he probably would never get another chance like this again, so he quickly learned the first technique as a cover. He then quickly flipped through the entire scroll looking for one particular jutsu; he stopped as soon as he saw the familiar design.

"So this is how it works…" mused Naruto. _"It is placed over my navel, so that our chakras integrate better, and because the seal is so close to the chakra system I can communicate with the Kyuubi through meditation,"_ thought Naruto while scrutinizing the scroll. "_Or through near-death experiences,"_ he smiled bitterly, "_which ever comes first._"

"**Kit, leave this for later, you got company," **warned the Kyuubi.

Naruto instantly heightened his senses to notice a familiar chuunin making his way towards him. He rolled up the scroll and waited patiently for the arrival, and within a minute Iruka leapt down from a nearby tree and questioned Naruto as to what he was doing. Naruto calmly explained to Iruka that Mizuki told him about the scroll and this place; at the same time he felt Mizuki's presence in a nearby tree.

"_So he has finally come,"_ thought Naruto also wondering what Iruka would do.

Iruka then sensed the projectiles coming at him and pushed Naruto out of the way. Naruto was faking absolute confusion while watching the exchange between Iruka and Mizuki, that is, until Mizuki started talking about the Kyuubi.

"_Shit! How am I supposed to react to this?"_ panicked Naruto.

"**Relax kit, just react the same way you did when you first found out,"** advised the Kyuubi.

Naruto mentally thanked the Kyuubi and painted absolute fear onto his face. He was so engrossed in his acting he didn't realize a large shuriken was flying straight at him. He scrambled to get out of its way, but quickly realized it was too late. He shut his eyes waiting for the pain, but it never came. Slowly he opened his eyes to see Iruka over him, protecting him from the large shuriken.

Naruto was truly shocked. "_Why did he protect me?"_ wondered Naruto, "_This is illogical… he should hate me, along with the rest of the cows."_ Naruto had long ago started referring to the villages as 'cows', meaning that they were all part of a big herd; stubborn and stupid. He clearly heard Iruka's words, "_he cares…?"_

The Kyuubi then decided to intervene in this mushy thought process, "**No kit, he doesn't care; his job is to get that scroll back… and while he might not hate you as much, who do you think he blames for the death of his parents?"**

Naruto's face hardened, he knew this was the truth and decided to get the hell out of there. So he ran, trying to get away from both Iruka and Mizuki, only to find himself behind a tree listening in on their conversation about him. Naruto was shocked once more, "_what's this, Iruka is acknowledging me?"_ wondered Naruto.

"**He knows you're here, do you really think that he would say the same thing if they were alone?"** the Kyuubi once again countered Naruto's argument.

Naruto looked over at the pair of chuunin once more and decided to end this whole charade. Mizuki's charge was his cue, he jumped out and kicked the chuunin, throwing him back and making him lose his large shuriken in the process. Mizuki got up and said some shit about Naruto being a lousy ninja and what not, so Naruto decided to try out his new move.

He positioned his hands into that cross-like seal and yelled "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," using up quite a bit of chakra to make a thousand clones appear. Naruto grinned evilly at Mizuki's terrified expression and allowed his clones to attack, making sure to contain his killer intent since there was someone watching all of this. He was finally satisfied when Mizuki lay on the ground half-dead. Naruto released his clones and went over to Iruka and in several minutes was informed, through a special ceremony, that he had passed the Genin Exam and was now officially a genin; he jumped for joy and requested Iruka to treat him to ramen.

"_**Well, that went fairly well. But I can't have the boy thinking that those pesky humans care about him. After all, that path will only end in heartbreak for my poor kit," **_mused the Kyuubi, knowing that Naruto could not hear.

While they were eating, Iruka filled him in on all the information he had given out to the other new genin. Naruto wanted to vomit when he heard all the shit about protecting your home village, either that or wring Iruka's neck for feeding him this bullshit. "_As if I would want to protect this fucking village,"_ thought Naruto all the while keeping his hands from shaking in frustration. A little while later they parted, Naruto going home and Iruka going to take care of some paperwork to truly make Naruto a genin.

Arriving home, the blonde took a quick shower and fell on his bed, completely tired. He looked at the tattoo on his right arm and was instantly reminded of that one fateful night.

)))))Flashback(((((

Naruto watched through blurred vision as the four teenagers walked away thinking, "_Why me? Why is it always me and only me?"_ As he embraced the enclosing darkness a final thought plagued his mind, "_What have I done to deserve such punishment? Why do I not remember doing this?"_

Naruto was surprised to wake up in a dark hallway; he was even more surprised that he was lying in a puddle of water, but his clothes weren't wet. He slowly got up and found that all his injuries were all gone. "_What is going on here?"_ he wondered.

Suddenly he heard faint laughter coming from somewhere in the darkness in front of him. Curiosity overwhelming him, Naruto made his way toward the laughter and had soon made it into a large open room with humongous barred gates on the opposite side. "Am I in some sort of prison?" he wondered out loud.

"**No, you're on the right side of the bars, kid,"** bellowed a voice from within the bars.

Naruto looked in awe and fear as giant red eyes opened up and looked at straight at Naruto.

"W-W-Who are y-you?" asked Naruto nervously.

The red eyes narrowed a little and a row of very sharp teeth and fangs became exposed as the giant creature laughed. "**Little human, I am Kyuubi no Kitsune."**

Naruto's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets in fear and shock, "y-y-y-you a-a-a-are..." The Kyuubi continued laughing.

Naruto was starting to get frustrated as the demon fox kept laughing at him, "Hey, god damn it! Mind telling me what's so funny, and where the hell we are?" yelled Naruto.

The Kyuubi reduced its laughter to a grin with its fangs still bared, "**What's funny is that we are inside your mind,"** replied Kyuubi answering both question.

"In my mind, but then that means that you are trapped inside of me," reasoned Naruto.

"**Hey, you're not as stupid as you seem."**

"Shut up!" yelled Naruto. "So this is why the villagers call me a monster."

"**That's right kid you're their new monster to blame shit on."**

"But it's not my fault, it's not like I asked you to be trapped inside of me."

"**Humans are fucking idiots like that. However, forget all that for now, your body is dying in case you don't know."**

Naruto suddenly remember what had just happened to him, "D-Dying, but I don't want to die," he said in a shaky voice.

The Kyuubi smirked, "**Of course not, but such things are inevitable for humans,"** it emphasized the last word.

Naruto stared up at the fox curiously for a moment, "You can't die, can you?" he asked in awe.

"**That's right kid, now I could heal you too, but not without a deal."**

"What kind of deal?"

"**Oh it's very simple,"** the demon fox grinned, **"I'll heal you and guide you in life so that you can become strong and in return all you have to do is what I tell you to."**

"That's it? I just have to listen to you and follow your directions?" asked Naruto in an already happy tone. "_Kind of seems like a small price to pay."_

"**Yup that's it, now, do we have a deal?"**

Naruto thought for a moment, after all this was a demon that he was talking to, "You won't ask me to like massacre everyone in the village, would you?"

"**Would that really be so bad?" **countered the fox in an amused voice.

"Well it's just that all my friends would be gone then…" the blonde trailed off at the end as he realized just how long, or rather short, his list of friends was.

"**What friends kid!?"** growled Kyuubi.** "Face it! You have no one! Except me, no one cares about you. This whole village would celebrate if you died." **

Naruto looked at the floor, "Well, there's that old man…"

"**The Hokage?"** Kyuubi scoffed. "**If that geezer actually cared for you, don't you think he would have taken you in? And given you more than crap hole to live in and barely enough money to survive on?"** Naruto couldn't find a response to that logic. **"If you're wondering why he comes to talk to you, I can explain that. He's just doing it to check and see if you're a danger to the village."**

"**That is why you cannot tell anyone that we have met,"** Naruto looked up at Kyuubi in confusion. "**If you do, then the geezer will think, just like all the others, that you have turned against the village and then,"** the fox paused for effect, "**he'll truly have you killed."**

"Ok," Naruto said after a little silence, "I agree to the deal."

The Kyuubi chuckled darkly, "**Good, but remember, unlike humans, demons **_**always**_** keep their word**."

Naruto nodded, "I won't back out."

The Kyuubi then sent a stream of red chakra right at Naruto, "**That should be enough to heal you.**"

Naruto woke up to find himself back in the alley, only this time the walls seemed to be lit up in red. It took Naruto a little moment to realize that it was in fact the red chakra swirling around him. He looked down at his battered body and noticed that his biggest wounds were closing in several. He could also hear and feel his broken bones popping back into place and growing together effortlessly. In several minutes he was back being completely healthy.

"**Now kid, get out of this place before the ninja come,"** ordered the Kyuubi.

Naruto looked around for the fox, until he realized that the voice was inside his head, "Is it bad that the ninja come, after all I could tell them to arrest those mean people?"

"**First of all, you can just think and I'll hear you,"** sighed the fox. "**And second, the ninja are much better trained to kill you."** Naruto gulped and quickly jumped out of the trashcan and made his way home.

Once back at home, he instantly discarded his smelly clothes and went to take a shower. In the shower, he suddenly noticed some sort of black marking on his right elbow. It started as a dot, one inch in diameter, in the middle of the inside of his elbow and then spiraled twice around his arm to end in the bushy end of a tail, about halfway up his biceps. He tried to wash it off, but it just wouldn't go.

"**Kid, that's a tattoo that I gave you, it cannot be washed off.**"

"A tattoo? Why did you give it to me?" inquired Naruto.

"**It symbolizes how much you have mastered,"** calmly replied the fox. "**The first black one indicates that you have made a pact with an elite demonic entity and have survived having its chakra poured into you."**

Naruto looked at the tattoo in wonder, "So you mean that there will be more?"

"**Yes, others will be awarded for certain accomplishments."**

"For a total of nine, am I right?" asked Naruto.

"**Yes, though it really depends on the entity that your pact is made with… but more about that later."**

Naruto was so lost in his thought about everything that had transpired that he completely forgot that he was only allowed a limited quantity of water per day, and that he had used up all of it. He swore quite loudly and with words that not even most teenagers knew.

)))))End Flashback(((((

There were now three tails on Naruto's arm; separate yet entwined in some places. They all started in the same one inch, in diameter, circle and ended the same was a tail would. The two new ones were gray and brown in color. The brown one started at Naruto's shoulder bone and spiraled downwards to end in the middle of Naruto's triceps. The gray one started out halfway between the endings of the black and brown ones and just went around the arm connecting the black and brown.

The Kyuubi had said that the brown one wasn't complete yet and would grow to be a double tail, extending in the other direction. It symbolized Naruto's connection to the earth. Since Kyuubi had been given control over Doton and Suiton, those would be passed on to Naruto in time.

The gray one was simply a chakra connection, so that Naruto could use demonic chakra when doing Doton jutsus. As the Kyuubi explained it, the initial black one controls all the chakra that Naruto can use, safely that is. Naruto can of course pull the Kyuubi's chakra through the seal, but that ultimately tears apart his chakra pathways. The Yondaime was an idiot to put such faith into a completely experimental seal.

On that note, Naruto realized he hadn't asked the Kyuubi about what they saw in the Forbidden Scroll. "**It's hopeless,"** replied the fox. "**The seal is held in place by the Shinigami. He would have to release his hold on it before we could even try and figure out some way to break it."**

Naruto sighed; perhaps the Yondaime wasn't such as fool, after all the main object of the seal was to keep the Kyuubi imprisoned. The blonde genin shook his head to clear his mind and rolled over to face away from the window; he was asleep within a minute.

* * *

This chapter's like 4 times longer than ANC's first chapter, but then again so much has happen since then.

You guys probly have a lot of questions about several ambigous things in this chapter, well don't worry a lot will be explained in the next 2-3 chapters.


	2. Inner Works

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"blah" speech  
"_blah_" thoughts  
"**blah**" Kyuubi's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Kyuubi's thoughts

Kyuubi no Tai - the "n00bish fifth-graders" piss me off! Spaming w/ crap stories... -shakes in anger- And it is Yondaime. No, many of the Leaf villagers are civilian. Think about it, there's gotta be regular people running the shops and stuff.

ranma hibiki - I don't consider this a cliffhanger... though be advised, if u do then u might have some heart attacks farther on...

kazanoe - that will be explained later.

cdromdrive - There is a pairing, which I will reveal whenever I feel it is right. Also I like ur SN, it's funny.

HikaruOfDreams - Lost Duties eh? I wonder... I dunno really; but since there's bn a request, I'll think c wat I can do.

Peter Kim - Yes, the story line will be slightly different from manga, but I'll be sticking to the major events.

**As of 9/23/08**: Some changes to Naruto's personality; redressed naruto; being more explicit about Supremacies.

* * *

Chapter 2 – Inner Works

The sun was shining and the birds were chirping as Naruto lazily rolled around in his bed, knowing that he had to get up, but not wanting to. '_Stupid picture day,'_ he thought for the millionth time,_ 'and they had to schedule it so that it's smack in the middle of my day,'_ Naruto thought._ 'I can't get up early, train and then go there because questions would arise, so I have to sleep in. ARGH!'_ Naruto jumped out of bed. "Well time to get up."

Naruto washed up, brushed his teeth and ate some instant ramen for breakfast. He then went over to the closet and frowned at the two orange jumpsuits hanging in there, "What kind of ninja wears orange?" he mumbled while shivering at the sight. "Oh yes, I remember, the kind that wants to be seen as an idiot and appear to be desperate for attention." Naruto couldn't bring himself to buy a completely orange jumpsuit. He instead got one that had the shoulders and arms in black, while the rest was orange.

"**Ok, while I tolerated that when you were in the academy, I can't stand to see you wearing such shit!"** the Kyuubi growled.

The blonde was reluctant, if only because he would have to interact with stupid people to explain why he changed his clothes, but finally decided that he would wear black and red outfit he once stole. It was simply black cargo pants, black long-sleeved shirt, and a blood-red vest with lots of pockets.

"Picture day," he mumbled. "How stupid; maybe I just won't show up, see what they do." Of course Naruto knew what they would do, namely threaten him with not being able to become a genin and finally pester him until he does get his picture taken. Thus cutting into his time, and potentially finding out about the training he does. "So, I'll just go in there get the picture taken and go train afterwards."

He frowned when he realized that he had an appointment with the Hokage right afterwards. '_What does that geezer need this time? Checking up on my crappy life style, which he knows about anyway?'_ scoffed Naruto. '_Though this time he might want to talk about the incident with the scroll; well he knows I learned Kage Bunshin. That's fine, just as long as he doesn't start to suspect anything about me and Kyuubi then it's alright.'_

A few hours later, after getting his picture taken, Naruto was sitting in a chair in front of the Hokage. The old man was looking over what seemed to be Naruto's files.

"I'm happy that you are starting to take your shinobi career more seriously," said the Hokage smiling slightly in reference to the new outfit Naruto was wearing.

'_Yeah, fuck you too!' _Naruto mentally snapped."Well, you know, decided to get this for myself as a graduation present," the blonde actually replied in an amiable tone.

The Hokage nodded; obviously thinking something along the lines of Naruto growing up and out of his childish self. "Naruto, we need to talk about that technique you learned," he said seriously. "The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu is considered a forbidden jutsu, so I don't want you teaching it to any of the other genin. Is that clear?"

"What?" yelled Naruto. "I can't even teach my future teammates?"

The Hokage raised an eyebrow and Naruto mentally swore; he wasn't supposed to know that the genin were split up into team. "So I take it Iruka told you that you would be put into a team with two other people?"

Naruto did his best not to let out a sigh of relief, "Yeah, that's right. I wonder who they are going to be?"

"Sorry, I can't tell you that," the old man said. "But I'm serious about you not teaching them the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Naruto looked like he was going to protest again, so the Hokage quickly added a little something, "And if you do then, I'm going to send you back to the academy."

'_Smart old man, he knows that's exactly what I don't want,'_ thought Naruto. He put up his dejected face, "Fine, fine, I promise that I won't teach anyone the Kage Bunshin."

"All right, then you are dismissed," said the Hokage. "Don't forger that you're meeting with your team in a week."

"Of course not! Goodbye old man!" yelled Naruto as he ran out the door.

'_If it wasn't for that last bit, I would say that Naruto has matured quite a bit since graduating,'_ the Hokage chuckled as he looked at the picture on his table. '_Still, it really bothers me that he knows about the Nine-tails. He seems to be taking it well, but something was a little off, I don't know what though. Maybe I should have a talk with him later,'_ he observed as he sensed his grandson outside the door. '_Well it will be interesting to watch him once the teams are made up.'_

Naruto calmly walked down one of the alleys that would eventually take him to his training field. '_Humph, as if I would even consider teaching someone that jutsu,'_ he sneered.

'_Anyway, time for my training,'_ Naruto thought as he reached the grassy area. He instantly heightened all his senses, making sure there was no one around he proceeded to conceal his chakra even further, '_After all, academy students aren't supposed to have anything above medium-low.'_

Within five seconds Naruto was pleased, '_Chakra signature eliminated; now to get to my real training area.'_ Naruto sprinted into the forest at a fast speed.

In about half anhour, Naruto arrived at a midsize clearing in the midst of a dense forest. On the right of the clearing was a small hot spring, on the far side the ground was all torn apart and up heaved, and except for the small rock formation on the left side the rest of the clearing was covered in a deep-green coat of grass.

"Ah, home away from home," Naruto said gently.

"**Yea, yea kit,"** the Kyuubi interrupted, "**Now give me 200 push-ups on each hand, sit-ups and squats; on top of the water, mind you,"** Naruto groaned a little. "**No complaining! You want to be strong enough to fight the strongest in the world? Then do these simple exercises!"** Naruto nodded rather hesitantly. "**And for your hesitation, I'm tagging on 100 for each exercise,**" the Kyuubi smiled viciously as Naruto ran off to do it before even more was tagged on. "**Oh, and 500 laps around the clearing; I almost forgot that one."**

"Slave driver," Naruto mumbled and felt the Kyuubi nod.

Five hours and many sore muscles later, Naruto sat down with his back against the rock. He was already feeling Kyuubi's chakra healing his torn up muscles. Next came the jutsu training.

))))) Flashback (((((

"Hey, how come we're going to be doing Doton?" asked a nine-year old Naruto.

"**I'm attributed to Doton and Suiton**," answered the Kyuubi, with a bit of annoyance.

Naruto thought a little, "But then how come everyone thinks you control fire?"

"**Because humans are idiotic,**" growled Kyuubi. "**They think just because I'm red, in color that must means that I can control fire**."

Naruto nodded in understanding, "So that's how you are able to destroy mountains and create tsunamis."

"**Exactly, but those are only a few of my vast collection of Doton and Suiton jutsus."**

"Those are the more destructive ones," said Naruto.

"**Those are the biggest ones,"** corrected Kyuubi. "**Those are for show, there are others equally or more powerful, just on a smaller scale." **

"How did you come to pick Doton and Suiton?" inquired Naruto.

"**No, it wasn't a picking matter,"** answered Kyuubi. "**When demons come from Makai (hell) to Ningenkai (human world), they are given supreme control over two elements. These elements are chosen randomly, but no two demons have control over the same two elements. It is called having Supremacy over an element."**

"So there can be ten demons down here at most," calculated Naruto.

"**Yes, but why we come here is unknown. I was practically ripped off of my throne and cast down into some random forest,"** clarified Kyuubi.

"Supreme, not absolute control?" wondered Naruto.

"**Yes, I found that there were some things that I couldn't do with Doton and Suiton,"** replied the Kyuubi with a slight frown. "**It wasn't that I didn't have enough chakra, there just seemed to be a barrier that prevented me." **

))))) End Flashback (((((

"I've learned my fair share of Doton over the last three years," said Naruto.

"**You have yet to unlock the Suiton chakra seal," **taunted Kyuubi.

"Hey, it's not my fault the black tattoo won't show up on my left arm," replied Naruto.

The Kyuubi growled, "**Because of this, you can't start learning Suiton."**

"I could learn some of the basics, can't I?" asked Naruto.

"**No, because then you would have to relearn the basics once your chakra system has changed to adapt to the Suiton seal,"** explained the Kyuubi while redirecting a little bit of Naruto's chakra to make his arm hurt; as if it were punching him. "**Now, go through all the Doton jutsus that you know, and then we'll have dinner."**

Naruto executed the earth-element techniques consecutively in order of difficulty, only stopping to improve or perfect the ones he had some trouble with. (A/N: Evil of me not to show you any huh? Well it's more like he knows the basic ones that I've shown in ANC).

Dinner was a quiet affair, as Naruto cooked and ate the rabbit he had caught. He really didn't want to make his way through Konoha's streets and to his shitty apartment, so he just slept in the hammock that he had hung up several years ago. '_Fresh air, no annoying villagers, no fucking ramen smell, and I don't have to run for half an hour to my training area,'_ Naruto recounted all the ups of staying here. '_There's no heat or indoor plumbing, but not like I get much heat or water anyway.'_

Naruto stayed at his training area for the whole week until the night before the meeting with his future genin team. '_It may look suspicious if I come from the forest,'_ reasoned Naruto. '_Plus, I need to take a shower and change clothes.'_

))))) Ninja Academy (((((

'_I hate that apartment, I hate the ramen I have eat for breakfast, I hate all the cows that walk the streets as if they own them, I hate these stupid fan-girls that are blocking the door,'_ Naruto was patiently waiting for Ino and Sakura to get through the classroom door. Finally someone pushed them in and they ran off to fight over who gets to sit next to Sasuke. '_I hate stuck up bastards who think they are all that just because they are from a famous clan. Actually, I don't mind the Uchiha too much; he stays quiet and doesn't directly annoy me.'_ Naruto calmly walked over to an empty chair and sat down quietly waiting for Iruka to get there.

Within minutes Naruto had his head down on the desk as usual since Iruka was once again talking in his lecture voice and giving him information he already knew. '_Three man teams, jounin instructor, and of course a balance of strength,'_ Naruto shrugged. '_As long as my team isn't full of fan-girls I'll be content.'_

"Team 7," Iruka read. "Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke."

'_The bitchy fan-girl that will constantly be hanging on to Sasuke and the arrogant stuck up Uchiha,'_ Naruto sighed. '_Fucking shit!'_ The blonde ignored the rest of the team assignments.

"A lunch break, finally, after that boring-ass lecture about being shinobi," Naruto hissed as he ate his sandwich on the roof. '_And they don't even say anything about killing.'_

"**Konoha is so sheltered**," Kyuubi scoffed in annoyance. "**Most of the new shinobi don't even kill until they become chuunin; idiotic.**"

'_The value of life is high here,_' shrugged Naruto.

"**They are fucking shinobi!"** Kyuubi continued.** "That's why they get so distraught when their friends die in battle. They're not used to it! And then it fucks them up for life. Peace-loving idiots in the middle of a war-loving world. It all makes me sick!**" the Kyuubi continued yelling about all the anger and hatred it harbored for Konoha.

"I need to get my mind off this," mumbled Naruto. "Let's see what there is to do."

He then noticed Sasuke standing next to a window eating his lunch, '_Perfect.'_ Naruto quickly used his stealth skills to get behind Sasuke and drag him into the room. He quickly used his Kage Bunshin to over-power the Uchiha and tie him up. He then left the room in Sasuke's form, '_Now to have some fun with that Sakura.'_

'_Sitting on a bench depressed, how predictable,'_ thought Naruto as he leaned on a tree across from her. '_Anytime now you'll notice me… Oh finally,'_ Naruto was relieved._ 'Now then, warm eyes, pleasant but small smile.'_

Naruto walked up to her and said, "You sure have a large charming forehead. Makes me want to kiss it," internally Naruto was laughing his ass off. He chuckled a little, "Yeah right, that sound like something Naruto would say," Sakura lowered her head dejected. "Sakura, what do you think of Naruto?"

"He's so annoying, always getting in my way and he enjoys watching me struggle. All I want is for you to acknowledge me," said Sakura.

'_You're struggling!?'_ fumed Naruto mentally. '_What the hell have you ever suffered with, you fucking bitch!? I ought to just rip your hair off, stick it up your ass and light it on fire!'_ Naruto took a deep breath. He quickly noticed that Sakura was leaning in for a kiss, '_I can't stay here; I'll tear her apart if I do,'_ Naruto quickly stood up and ran away; leaving Sakura dumbfounded.

The real Sasuke came walking back a minute later, asking where Naruto was. Sakura promptly pissed off Sasuke by saying that not having parents was a good thing, so he told her that she was annoying and that she should just leave him alone.

Naruto was leaving the restroom with his hands in his pockets, when he ran into Sasuke. '_So the guy finally managed to untie the ropes,'_ Naruto thought sarcastically. "Took you long enough, I had plenty of time to ruin your image."

Sasuke's face went from a confused look to annoyance and finally to anger, but before he could say anything Naruto continued, "We need to go, lunch break is over." After which he promptly walked away and ignored Sasuke completely.

They sat there for the next three hours waiting for their jounin instructor to arrive. "Where the hell is this guy?" yelled Naruto. '_I swear I'm going to rip his head off for making me sit here and listen to Sakura talking… scratch that… trying to talk to Sasuke, but he's a brick wall. So all I've been hearing is her screeching voice and it might just drive me to mass murder within the next few minutes.'_

"**Now you know how I feel," **Kyuubi said wryly.

Naruto was suddenly hit by an idea. He grabbed a blackboard eraser and, ignoring Sakura's protests, jammed it between the door and the wall. "That'll show him for being late."

"As if a jounin would fall for something so simple," commented Sasuke in annoyance.

Just then they heard the door slide open and the eraser fell right on the head of a man with silver hair styled upwards and sideways, a forehead protector leaning to one side to cover his left eye, and a black facemask covering everything from his nose down. He wore the standard jounin vest over a black shirt, black fingerless gloves, black pants and standard sandals.

"Well my first impression is," said the jounin loosely, "I don't like you guys." He waited for them to recover from the shock before telling them to follow him to the roof. "Well let's start off with the basic introductions."

"What do you want to know?" asked Sakura.

"How about your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, stuff like that?"

"Hey, why don't you introduce yourself first?" demanded Naruto. '_I should have used a kunai instead of an eraser.'_

"Oh… I'm Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you my likes or dislikes. Dreams for the future…? Hmm… well I have lots of hobbies."

"So all we learned was his name," Sakura commented.

Naruto nodded, but was actually analyzing what Kakashi had told them, '_No desire: so he's lazy. Dreams for the future: I'd say that he's more of a person that just does missions and something happened to his dream in the past. Lots of hobbies: probably only one or two and they are both personal,'_ deduced Naruto. '_I have to commend him for the vague introduction. I'll make sure to do the same; though they won't notice,'_ he smirked mentally.

"That's right, now it's your turn," stated the jounin.

'_Here goes,'_ thought Naruto. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like cup ramen, what I like even more is the restaurant ramen Iruka-sensei buys me. What I dislike is waiting three minutes for the ramen to cook. My dream is to become Hokage and then have all the people of this village acknowledge my existence!"

'_He's grown in an interesting way,'_ thought Kakashi.

'_Good, they bought it,'_ cheered Naruto. '_Now what I really like, is training with Kyuubi, and I must say that killing is quite satisfying too. Dislikes: Konoha and everyone in it. Hobbies: training, pulling pranks on stupid villages and shinobi alike and learning high-level jutsu. Dreams for the future: revenge!'_

"Alright next," said Kakashi lazily.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike, but I don't really like anything. And… I don't want to use the word 'dream' but… I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain man."

'_So, he also wants revenge,'_ thought Naruto.

'_I thought so…'_ Kakashi's eye narrowed. "And lastly, the girl…"

"I'm Haruno Sakura. The thing I like is," she glanced sideways and Sasuke. "Well… the person I like is…" she again glanced at Sasuke. "Umm… my dream for the future…" once again glanced at Sasuke. "The thing I dislike is Naruto."

'_Damn she's annoying! Dislike me all you want, I've hated you for a long time now,'_ on the outside however Naruto decided to put on a neutral face.

'_Girls of this age are more interested in love than ninjutsu,'_ sadly thought Kakashi. "That's it for today, tomorrow we will begin out duties."

"Oh, what kind of duties!?" asked Naruto, already knowing about the real genin test.

"First we are going to do something for with just the four of us."

"Which would be?" hurriedly asked Naruto.

"Survival training," was the cold answer.

"Survival training? But we already did enough at the Ninja Academy," said Sakura.

"I'm your opponent, but this isn't normal training," laughed Kakashi. "Of the twenty seven graduates only nine will be chosen as genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy. This training is a super difficult test with failure rate over 66!"

"WHAT!?" screamed Sakura. "Then, what the hell was the point of graduating!?"

"That's just to select those that have a chance to become genin," calmly answered the masked jounin. "Anyway, tomorrow you will be graded on the training field. Bring all your shinobi tools. Oh and skip breakfast or you'll throw up. Here," he handed them a piece of paper, "the details are all on this handout, don't be late," he disappeared.

'_Crap, I can't use any of my special attacks,'_ thought Naruto. '_Wait, a normal genin isn't supposed to know special attacks. Then this test is likely something witty,'_ Naruto sighed and went home for the day.

Late at night when everyone was sleeping, Naruto sat with his back against the sealed gate in his mind.

"Hey Kyuubi, how do you think I'll do on this test?" he asked slowly.

"**You would do fine, but your mask…"**

"Yeah, but I'm letting that go now," lightly chuckled Naruto. "I figure the whole graduated from the academy and became a genin is a good point to 'turn around my life' as they say."

"**You'll have to do a lot of reading between the lines with your jounin instructor,"** Kyuubi noted.

"Yeah, I already noticed that. He's one of those people that gets a kick out of being misinterpreted. You think there's anything he can teach me?"

"**I think an opportunity may present itself in the future where you will be able to pick up something from your lazy jounin, but otherwise you already know all the basics and he doesn't seem like the 'helpful teacher' type."**

Naruto felt a tail wrap around him and press him into the bars, "**You worry too much, kit. Plus there are still too many unknowns; this test being the biggest."**

"You're right Kyu," said Naruto calmly.

"**Of course I'm right, how can the greatest demon on earth be wrong?**" Kyuubi and Naruto laughed. Kyuubi's tail then tightened around him, "**But don't you dare lose or let the jounin discover anything unpleasant,"** the demon warned.

Naruto woke up early in the morning wanting to get to the training area on time. "Kakashi said not to eat, but I honestly don't think I'll throw up," muttered Naruto sleepily. He didn't hurry too much, and casually brushed his teeth and ate his usual ramen. He was out the door about five minutes before the meeting was supposed to start, but he was sure they would wait for him.

When he got to the training field Sakura yelled at him for being late even though Kakashi wasn't even there yet. Again they waited for three hours for their jounin instructor to show up. The whole time Naruto busied himself with running all around the training field. While to Sasuke and Sakura it looked like he was goofing around, Naruto was actually doing his regular morning exercise; minus the push-ups and sit-ups.

"Hey guys, good morning!" Kakashi said.

"YOU'RE LATE!!" screamed Sakura, Sasuke glared at the jounin, and Naruto simply stopped exercising.

Kakashi just ignored them and put an alarm clock on top of the log, "It's set to noon. By that time you have to get these two bells from me," he held up the bells. "Those who cannot get a bell, get no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps, but eat right in front of you."

'_So this is why he told us not to eat,'_ thought all the students.

'_So glad I disobeyed directions,'_ thought Naruto.

"You only need to get one bell and since there are only two, one of you will definitely be tied to a stump. And… the person who doesn't take a bell fails. So, at least one of you will be sent back to the academy," explained Kakashi. "You can use all the weapons at your disposal. You won't success unless you come at me intending to kill."

'_I'd show you intending to kill,'_ thought Naruto savagely. '_But, alas, that would reveal too much.'_

"But, you'll be in danger!" said Sakura worriedly.

'_Oh my god! Does she think that shinobi just take walks in the park with their loved ones or something?'_ Naruto had to control his anger; his hand still twitched.

"Yeah, you couldn't even dodge a chalkboard eraser," laughed Naruto.

"In the real world, those with no talent often bark the loudest," said Kakashi matter-of-factly. "Well, ignore Mr. Dead Last and start when I say…"

'_DEAD LAST!'_ thought Naruto. '_I'll show him!'_ Naruto whipped out his kunai, but before he could even move Kakashi was already behind him and held him own kunai to the back of his neck. '_So he's quite capable,'_ thought Naruto.

"Well it seems like you're ready to come at me with intent to kill. I'm beginning to like you guys. Ok, let's get going. Ready… START!" yelled Kakashi and they all jumped away.

"The basics of a ninja is to hide yourself well…" Kakashi stated as he looked at Naruto, who was right in front of him. "You're a little off…"

"Come on and fight me!" yelled Naruto and rushed Kakashi.

"Shinobi Lesson #1: Taijutsu. I'll teach you all about it," the jounin said as he reached into his pocket.

Naruto stopped and narrowed his eyes, '_He's going to use a weapon?'_ Kakashi then pulled out a book named 'Come Come Paradise', and began reading. "What's the book for?" asked Naruto suspiciously.

"Why? Well, because I want to read what happens next. Don't worry about it, it won't make a difference against you guys," he stated lazily.

'_This must be one of his hobbies,'_ thought Naruto. '_Reading those adult books; well, to each his own, I suppose.'_

"I'll beat you to a pulp!" shouted Naruto and attacked Kakashi with some basic punches and kicks. Kakashi managed to dodge them all and appeared behind Naruto. '_Shit, he's behind me… I could… no, I'll just use something a lot simpler,'_ Naruto's hands formed into a simple seal.

"Hidden Leaf Ancient Technique: A Thousand Years of Pain!" yelled Kakashi and poked Naruto in the ass. However, right before the hit connected Naruto, he burst into a cloud of smoke and Kakashi ended up hitting a log. '_Hmm… so the boy has some skill,'_ complimented Kakashi.

'_He used Kawarimi right before the hit connected,'_ analyzed Sasuke. '_Not bad for a dead last. But that attack was just stupid.'_

Suddenly two shuriken flew out of the forest headed straight for Kakashi, but the jounin easily caught them on his index and middle finger. That's when four Naruto clones rushed straight at Kakashi.

"Ah, Kage Bunshin, but with your ability your limit is about a minute," deduced the jounin. "No matter how many you line up, you're still Naruto. You can't beat me with that jutsu."

It was at that moment that Kakashi felt Naruto grab him from behind, "Shinobi aren't supposed to be caught from behind, right Kakashi-sensei?" said Naruto as he reached down to grab one of the bells, while his clones attacked Kakashi. However before he could get the bell it disappeared and Naruto noticed he was holding one of his own clones. '_Bastard, using the higher level Kawarimi that can switch you with a living person; I wasn't ready to counter that.' _Naruto quickly hid himself and released all his clones, save one.

'_That was a nice plan,'_ thought Sasuke as he formulating his own.

Naruto's clone looked over to the side and saw a bell lying on the ground, '_That is obviously a trap, but I may as well fall for it. Maybe Kakashi will come out,'_ figured the real Naruto. It was definitely a trap and Naruto was hoisted up by his legs. Kakashi walked out a few seconds later to collect the bell. '_Damn it, I missed my chance to get the bell!'_ cursed Naruto.

"Think before using a jutsu, or it will be used against you," lectured Kakashi. "And don't fall for such obvious traps, idiot."

The Naruto in the tree smirked and disappeared in a puff of smoke; Kakashi seemed to ignore this and instead continued reading his book.

'_He's playing with us,'_ contemplated Naruto in his hiding place. '_He's not even fighting at a third of his strength. There is no way one of us could hope to beat him.'_

"**Maybe you're not supposed to,"** hinted Kyuubi.

'_But then how the hell am I supposed to get the bell!?'_ Kyuubi just laughed. '_Two bells, three people, one fails…'_ something was wrong with this scenario. Naruto just couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was. '_Wait half a second, three-man teams under one jounin instructor. He can't just fail one of us… if one is failed then there is no more three man team, so in turn everyone fails,'_ Naruto almost laughed out loud. '_Son of bitch! Teamwork!'_ Naruto concluded. '_Gotta hand it to him, that's a good idea.'_

Naruto's face suddenly darkened, '_But I can't say that I came up with that reasoning. So I have to hope that the love struck, supposedly smartest girl on the team figures it out,'_ Naruto sighed deeply. "We're screwed," he muttered.

Naruto watched as Sasuke threw a bunch of shuriken and kunai at Kakashi only to have Kakashi use a Kawarimi to figure out Sasuke's position. A few minutes later he heard Sakura's scream.

"Shinobi Fighting Lesson #2: Genjutsu," stated Kakashi. "Sakura easily fell for it."

Naruto sighed and wondered why that girl was even trying to become a kunoichi. He watched as Sasuke pulled off some acrobatics trying to reach the bells, but Kakashi easily escaped. That's when Naruto realized another thing, '_We might be fighting to kill him and get the bell, but he has no such interest in us. So when it comes down to it, he would rather escape than stay and fight.'_

'_I need to subtly force teamwork, but how?'_ deliberated Naruto. At that moment he caught sight of the lunches that were lying on top of the monument behind the trees. '_This gives me an idea,'_ Naruto smirked.

He would have put his plan into action immediately, but Naruto wanted to see how the battle between Sasuke and Kakashi would turn out. '_Smart; escaping underground with the Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu. Sasuke is out matched when it comes to ninjutsu. Though, if Kakashi-sensei were to try that trick with me I would kill him before he even got halfway towards me.'_

Naruto then leapt off to steal the lunches. He sat with his back to the monument and the lunches in front of him for about five minutes before he felt Kakashi right behind him. Kakashi promptly grabbed him and tied him up to a log for cheating. Within twenty minutes Sasuke and Sakura joined Naruto at the log.

"You guys look really hungry," taunted Kakashi. "By the way, you guys don't need to go back to the academy. All three of you should quit as shinobi."

"Quit as shinobi? What the hell do you mean by that!?" yelled Naruto. '_Shit, this is not going according to plan.'_

"Because you are all punks who don't deserve to be shinobi," informed Kakashi.

Sasuke got pissed off and tried to attack the jounin head on, only to be disarmed and have the said Kakashi sitting on his back. "Why do you think you guys are divided into teams and are doing this training?" asked Kakashi.

"What does that mean?" innocently asked Sakura.

"You guys are not understanding the answer to this test," the jounin continued.

"Answer?" asked Naruto, feigning ignorance.

"Yes, the answer that helps you pass the test."

"So, when are you going to tell us?" asked Sakura.

Naruto closed his eyes in frustration, '_You're the brain of the team and you don't understand and want an easy answer!? You should just get mauled right now!'_

Kakashi answered in about the same way, "Geez."

Naruto couldn't take it anymore, "Just tell us the answer already, damn it!"

"It's teamwork," Kakashi said coldly.

"Wait, but there are only two bells. What is the point of teamwork if one person is still left out?" questioned Sakura.

Kakashi then gave them his lecture on teamwork, even going so far as to point out that his best friend's name is on the memorial for dead heroes. After looking at it for several moments he declared that he would give them one more chance to get the bells after lunch, but that it would be a lot harder. He also instructed that no lunch be given to Naruto or else they would be failed immediately.

"I don't need any food!" yelled Naruto, but his stomach rumbled. '_Now just one of you please give me your food. Teamwork, that's all he wants.'_

Naruto almost gave up and started thinking about strategies to attack Kakashi, when Sasuke offered him his lunch. '_The stuck up bastard sharing his lunch,'_ Naruto was surprise. '_Well I guess it's right, since Sakura is way too law abiding.'_

"Thanks, guys," said Naruto.

As soon as he took a bite of food Kakashi appeared and, while scarring them all, announced that they had passed because they were able to put their comrades in front of every thing else. Kakashi then instructed them to meet him at a certain bridge at nine in the morning the next day. T hey all quite walked off leaving Naruto tied to the log.

'_Fucking assholes!'_ raged Naruto. '_Well, fine!'_

He concentrated on his Doton link and slowly, but surely, sank down into the ground. As soon as he had submerged himself, Naruto felt someone walking above him. He decided to traverse his way to the forest on the other side of the training field to avoid this person. '_Well, now I'm a genin,'_ he thought contently. '_I hope the missions will be interesting and not a total waste of time like the academy class was.'_

* * *

Updating might take a while, since I'm going into the last month of the quarter. Meaning papers need done and finals need to be written... A lot of study study. Once summer gets here though... it'll probly b much like last summer; 3-4 days per update. But I'm not a long term planning type (at least in real life)...


	3. Second Awakening

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Thank you to all my reviewers!

"blah" speech  
"_blah_" thoughts  
"**blah**" Kyuubi's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Kyuubi's thoughts

Kitsune-Itai - At this point Naruto doesn't want to show off any of his power. Don't worry I have power planned for Naruto in the future, but you gotta remember that Naruto is operating under a mask right now.

mrasdfghj - Sakura bashings: Naruto will just think the same things the rest of us thinking. The Naruto-Gaara relations I have more or less figured out, it's kind of a double relationship b/c there's also the relations btwn Kyuubi and Shukaku... well you'll see. Jiraiya... I have yet to consider fully...

Mizukithepanda - mmm... I wanna say your ninth tail scene is close, but it isn't really. I'm working on a more complex revenge. And as for ripping people apart, well, you'll see -sadistic smirk-

Shi Rurouni of the Aphrodesiac - NO. The pairing's not common, mind you.

Fic Slayr - Some things will have to stay the same, I hope you realize. What you want me to do, Naruto murders everybody? -sneer- That's SO overused.

**As of 9/23/08**: Some changes to Naruto's personality.

* * *

Chapter 3 – Second Awakening

Naruto, in his swimsuit, relaxed on top of the pond in his training area. The sun was right above him, so he lay with his eyes closed just basking in the warmth. At random intervals it looked like he was watching a movie from a first-person perspective and he couldn't help but laugh at his team.

'_We are just three individuals that happen to be doing the same thing,'_ he thought somewhat sadly. '_At least I got out of the main stream duties.'_

After the first two D-Rank missions, Naruto had decided to call it quits and use his time to train instead. He would send a chakra-reinforced clone to meet with his team. Wait at that god-forsaken bridge for a good three hours with _those_ two, and then do one or two absolutely pointless missions for the next six hours.

'_I have A LOT better thing to do with nine hours,'_ Naruto frowned. He kept wondering how Sasuke and Sakura would perform if faced off against people that actually _want_ to kill them. That little test that they had with Kakashi didn't amount to _real_ fighting; after all he was just running away. Naruto was kind of hoping that they would do well, then he wouldn't have to show off anything. He sneered when thinking about how much their teamwork was improving when they were clearing weeds from a garden.

'_Kakashi hasn't even had us do the tree climbing exercise,'_ thought Naruto. '_From what I've overheard, the rest of the teams have already done that.'_

Naruto rolled over onto his stomach and opened his eyes to look at the destroyed forest in front of him, "Hey, Kyu?"

"**What is it, whelp? Can't you see I'm trying to get some shut eye?"** growled Kyuubi.

Naruto grumbled a little, but didn't say anymore. '_I wonder if I should actually go with them tomorrow?'_ pondered Naruto. '_After all, maybe that old geezer of a Hokage will give us something better?'_ Naruto stood up and shrugged. "Never hurts to ask, right?"

That's when he felt it; a sudden memory of pain in his abdomen. '_Shit! What the hell happened?'_ wondered Naruto as he quickly started going over the clone's last memories. '_The last thing I found out was that they were halfway through painting a house.'_ Naruto reached the last memory sequence and frowned.

They had just finished the job and were on their way back, with Naruto's clone lagging behind a little. When suddenly Kakashi poofed away, '_It had been a Kage Bunshin.'_ The very last memory was a very painful feeling in the clone's abdomen and the horrified looks on Sakura and Sasuke's faces.

Naruto cursed, "That jounin figured it out; must have seen the switch between clones. Damn it, that sucks, now I _have_ to go tomorrow." He sighed. He really didn't want to face all those imminent questions. 'Where were you? How come you don't come on missions with your team?' He knew that Kakashi would probably give him the whole spiel about teamwork.

"No use thinking about that right now." Naruto walked back to the shore, got changed and continued his training routine until nightfall. The walk back had been about the same as usual. The cold stares, the glares, the whispering, and Naruto acting as if he couldn't hear them. But this night Naruto's mind was preoccupied with figuring out what excuses to use the following day. After much mulling over, he decided to just tell them the truth.

During his sleep Naruto went to talk to the Kyuubi. "**I told you kit, the Kage Bunshin was a good idea but that the jounin would see through it at one point or another."** Naruto nodded. "**While a certain jutsu may work the first time, it doesn't mean that your opponent will far for it again. That is why you must vary your attacks."** The Kyuubi lectured on.

"Is this what you called me here for to lecture me?" was the boy's frustrated reply. "I already know that, but I certainly didn't want to waste my time painting houses when I could be training."

"**Don't yell at me kit!"** the fox growled, "**I need you to train as much as possible, so that these vermin will get what's coming to them even sooner. You cannot sacrifice your main goal for such petty little everyday things. Control! Control even your anger and resentment, so that one day when the time comes you can let it all out and kill until your heart's content!"**

Naruto woke up to the sound of his alarm clock at seven in the morning. '_Technically, Kakashi doesn't even get there until nine or later, so I don't have to be there right now, but I may as well.'_ He shrugged and got out of bed. For breakfast he ate a rabbit that he caught the night before and slowly set out for Team Seven's meeting place.

He arrived to find Sasuke and Sakura already there. Sasuke lightly glanced in his direction, but didn't say anything, '_Asshole.'_ Sakura didn't even notice that he was there because she was too busy trying to talk to the asshole, '_Annoying fan girl.'_ Naruto sat cross-legged leaning his back and head against the railing with his eyes closed. '_My clone would usually say hello to Sakura, then glare at Sasuke, and then try and talk to Sakura only to be ignored and favored for Sasuke. Since it all ends in silence anyway I may as well not say anything at all.'_

'_What the hell is that dobe doing?'_ though Sasuke. '_Usually he would be yelling and screaming, and most importantly distracting Sakura.'_

Sakura finally turned around to see what had captured Sasuke's attention. '_Is Naruto meditating?'_ she wondered, but quickly wrote it off as sleep. She walked over and tried to punch him in the head, but he grabbed her wrist before the punch connected. His eyes quickly opened, the normal calm and happy cerulean eyes had darkened and grew serious. Sakura gasped.

"I'm not sleeping, Sakura, but if you want to talk I'd be more than happy," he smiled and the warmth returning to his eyes.

Sakura brushed it off as a trick of the light, "As if I would want to talk with you," she said harshly and went back to talking to Sasuke. Naruto relaxed once more and went back to meditating.

About an hour later, Naruto finished his daily meditation session and decided to check a theory. He changed his sitting position to a crouch and placed his right palm on the ground. His eyes closed in concentration as he used very thin chakra waves to fan out and search the surroundings. '_300 feet and still nothing,'_ thought Naruto. '_500 feet is my max without visibly revealing chakra. If Kakashi were to be watching us from some covert location, there is no way that he could hear what we are saying, and he couldn't see us very well either. That bastard is actually sleeping in!'_ Naruto scowled.

Naruto leaned back against the railing, leaving a 50-foot search radius. It was nice and quiet now that Sakura had given up talking to Sasuke, or did she just run out of topics? It didn't matter to Naruto either way, he preferred having things quiet. After all, growing up alone you have to get used to it. The Kyuubi was always interesting, if not fun, to talk to but the fox was mostly nocturnal. That left him with practically no one to talk to during the day. Naruto could, and did, always make small talk with the ramen chef and his daughter. There was Iruka-sensei, but he was a shinobi and Naruto would never risk revealing to him just how strong he was and who was training him. Self-preservation, Naruto constantly reminded himself. If they knew, they would act, but as long as they didn't know he would be left alone.

Naruto's mind digressed again to the memories of his childhood. Though this time he didn't focus in on the hatred of the villagers; that was reserved for battle situations when he needed the extra push in power. Right now his mind drifted to the simpler things in life, playing in the sandbox, walking by the lake, his pranking career and all the stupid punishments that he had been subjected to. At least they kept him busy and away from that lonely apartment. God, how he hated that place! Naruto wondered if that place had ever been filled with life at all. It felt like a crypt most of the time, and not just because it lacked a heater. '_When I make jounin, I'm moving far, far away from that place; if I can buy a piece of the forest that would be even better.'_

Naruto's thoughts were instantly shattered when he felt a strong chakra enter his field. It took him a second to pinpoint its location, approximate velocity, and whether or not it was on an intersection course with him, and if yes, how long until it got here. After all the instantaneous computations were done, Naruto realized that it was just their delinquent teacher running to meet them.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura yelled in response to Kakashi's greeting. Kakashi looked at Naruto curiously, but didn't say anything.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are we going to do today?" asked Sakura.

"Oh, I got us some slightly more interesting missions," his gaze shifted over to Naruto. "Since some of us think the regular ones are too boring to even show up."

"You expect me to find weeding a garden fun?" countered Naruto. "Or how about painting a fence?"

"These missions are designed to strengthen teamwork and teach young shinobi about responsibility," Kakashi emphasized the last word.

'_What teamwork to begin with? And also, that that hypocritical bastard has the nerve to bring up responsibility!"_

"Hey, the only reason we may not be that responsible is because you are always so late," said Naruto. "Didn't _your_ teacher tell _you_ about responsibility?"

Kakashi's eye flickered with sadness for half a second before turning back to its usual lazy look. "The problem here is that you haven't been showing up for missions at all, Naruto."

Sakura gasped, she had thought that Naruto just hadn't shown up yesterday. "Naruto, you should listen to what Kakashi-sensei says and don't inconvenience us by not showing up!"

"I was here, in essence," Naruto said calmly.

"There is a big difference between being here and sending a part of your chakra here," replied Kakashi sternly.

"I don't think it makes much of a difference for weeding a garden," said Naruto.

Kakashi sighed, "Come on Naruto, we have a mission to do."

Naruto decided not to argue and instead focused on his teacher. 'H_e knows that I haven't been coming myself to many of the missions, but how many? When did he first start to suspect? Most importantly, what else does he know about me?'_ Naruto kept thinking about the best and most discrete ways to find out the answers to all of his questions, when it suddenly hit him. His, now former since he was trying to get rid of it, mask always took the direct approach. He would actually make himself a target of suspicion if he were to do it any other way.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, how did you know that it was a clone and not me?" asked Naruto.

"Simple, because your clone would try extra hard not be hit by anything, and when it couldn't avoid the hit it would make a cushion-like chakra padding to prevent its destruction." Naruto nodded slightly; that reasoning made sense. "Also because I followed your clone one day and saw it turn into smoke." Naruto face-faulted.

'_Damn it! He baited me with the chakra cushion answer, now he knows that I know more than I let on,' _Naruto decided to stay silent after that. There was no point to try and bluff his way out knowing how to chakra-cushion his clones. '_If all else fails I'll say that the instructions were in the Forbidden Scroll.'_

'_He's not trying to deny it,_' thought Kakashi. '_Naruto does know how to use the chakra cushion enough so his clones don't die in one hit. Also, keeping a clone alive for the whole day when the original is far away is not a task that a genin should be able to perform.'_

"Now I have a question for you, Naruto. What have you been doing instead of missions? Slacking off?"

Naruto scowled, "I'll have you know, I've been training."

"Dobe, no training in the world could help you get out of your hole," smirked Sasuke.

Naruto resisted the urge to bring up Sasuke and Itachi's skill gap, or ocean if you will. "Watch your mouth, bastard! I can kick your ass if I want to!"

The teacher shook his head. "Now, now children we've arrived at the forest where your target is presumed to be lost."

"Oh, and who are we searching for? Is this person worth my time?" asked Naruto sardonically.

Two hours later Team Seven was in the administrative building, standing in line for their next mission.

"I still can't believe we had to search for a cat," muttered Naruto. "A cat. You'd think they would take pity on the thing and kill it considering who the owner is."

"But then we would be out of our job," reminded Kakashi; the jounin though he heard Naruto mumble something about 'good' and 'burning gardens.'

"Then, we wouldn't have to do such stupid things for a job," replied Naruto. "Hey, old man, can't you give us a better mission?"

"You skip out on meetings with your team and you think I'm going to give you a better mission?" asked the Hokage, blowing out smoke from his pipe.

"If the missions weren't so damn boring then I would make an effort to come and meet with my team."

"How is that you know what missions you are doing if you're not even there?"

"My Kage Bunshin tell me of course, don't you know? Or have you really gotten that old and senile?" laughed Naruto.

"Naruto, you cannot talk to the Hokage like that!" yelled Iruka, who sat right next to the Sandaime throughout all the exchanges. "These missions are done by all the genin teams because that is how shinobi villages are structured." Both Iruka and the Hokage went on explaining how missions were assigned between each rank. Naruto calmly tuned it out since he already knew all this and knew that the Hokage would refuse to give them a better mission. The blonde knew that he would have to bide his time, and wait until he had Kakashi's trust once more, so that he could send a clone to the meetings once more.

"Naruto, are you even listening to what I'm saying!?" yelled the chuunin schoolteacher.

"I apologize, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said quickly.

"Geez! All you do is give boring lectures like that. But you know, I'm not the same trouble-making brat that you still think I am."

'_Geez, I'm the one that's going to take responsibly for this later,'_ thought Kakashi.

The Hokage then thought for a moment and decided that it would be a good experience for the whole team to try something a bit harder. He concluded that the Uchiha probably also felt the same way, but just didn't voice his opinions. And Kakashi would be able to help them out if things went a little sour. "Ok, since you want it that much, I'll give you a C-Rank mission." Everyone was appalled that the Hokage gave in to the genin's tantrum. "It is a protection mission of a certain individual," the Hokage elaborated. Everyone was still staring at the old man as if he had just grown another head.

The door opened and an old man with a beer bottle stepped out. "What is this? They are all a bunch of brats, especially the shortest one with the stupid-looking face. Are you really a ninja?" Were the first words out of the stranger's mouth. Naruto knew that the old man was referring to him and immediately lashed out screaming obscenities at him. Kakashi quickly intervened and held off the angered Naruto. "I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna and I expect you to provide me super protection until we get back to my village and my bridge is complete," the old man introduced himself.

Naruto sighed; this was going to be a very long and strenuous assignment. Naruto gave Tazuna the benefit of the doubt since he was drunk, but it was still hard to ignore all the insults that the man was spewing out about him.

Naruto had finally had it, "Hey old man, don't mess with ninjas! Never know when one might slit your throat while you're sleeping"

In his drunken haze Tazuna didn't fully register the words, "I doubt a brat like you could ever do something like that," snorted Tazuna. "Even if you could do something like that, I would still treat you the same."

'_He's just like the rest of the villagers. If only I was alone with him, he wouldn't be drawing breath.'_ Naruto's face contorted in anger. "I'll kill you!" he screamed. Kakashi grabbed Naruto by the back of his vest and held him at bay until he calmed down.

Once they started walking again Sakura asked whether or not the Wave Country also had ninjas. Kakashi explained that while the Wave doesn't have shinobi, most other countries do have hidden villages and shinobi do exist. He went on explaining about The Five Great Shinobi Countries and the roles the Kage play.

Naruto tuned it out; instead concentrating on the chakra signatures he had felt when they left the village. '_They are up ahead of us; on the actual road. Are they seriously going to attack us directly?'_ wondered Naruto. He decided not to guess but wait and see. His attention switched back to the Kakashi's history lesson, '_You'd think that Sakura would already know all of this by now.'_

"**No, of course not, she only knows what is taught to her,"** Kyuubi woke up and slightly startled Naruto. "**The rest of the human female's time is spent on superficial things that completely do not relate to being a shinobi."**

Naruto didn't respond. His opinion of the girl had been predetermined since the days of the academy. He didn't like her at all. If she managed to keep her mouth shut then she was tolerable, but most of the time she was just plain annoying as hell.

"**Makes me cringe every time you say you like her."**

'_Hey, I haven't done that lately. That couldn't be helped she was one of those things that kept the mask in place. She helped with the cycle of me thinking one thing, but saying the opposite.'_ He spotted the puddle out of the corner of his eye, but didn't say anything or give any sort of indication that he had even noticed. '_Foolish to hide in a puddle when it hasn't rained in several weeks. Kakashi seems to have noticed, but he hasn't said anything. The situation does seem a bit fishy especially with Tazuna's current behavior as opposed to how he was when we were safely inside Konoha.'_

The sound of chains broke Naruto's thoughts and made him spin around before anyone had even noticed what was going on. He saw the chains wrap around Kakashi, but the jounin just made it look like he was shocked. '_Kawarimi, most jounin don't even need to do hand seals for it.'_ Naruto felt the two shinobi close in behind him, but just as he was going to act he saw Sasuke throw shuriken to stop the chains. '_Well, I may as well not show off my skills quite yet.'_

Sasuke kicked the attackers so hard that their chains broke and they were once again free to attack once more. '_Stupid he should have killed them while they were still bound,'_ thought Naruto as he saw one close in on him. Naruto saw the claws extend towards him and he quickly sidestepped to the right, his hand already on his kunai, drawing it out to stab the man. The other enemy was rapidly closing in on Tazuna and Sakura. Just then Kakashi intervened by grabbing both in a headlock at the same time. '_Show off,'_ thought both Naruto and Sasuke, while Sakura was overjoyed that their sensei hadn't been died.

"Tazuna-san, I need to talk to you," said Kakashi in a serious tone. "These look like Hidden Mist chuunin."

"If you knew about them, then why did you let the brats fight?" asked the bridge builder.

"There was something I had to find out… who those two were after," the jounin explained. "We hadn't heard that there were shinobi after you. Our mission was to simply protect you from bandits or gangs. This has now become at least a B-Rank mission. I'm sure you had a reason, but it causes problems when clients lie about the mission. We are now operating outside of our duties."

"We aren't ready for this mission, then let's quit!" said Sakura quickly.

Naruto and Sasuke both narrowed their eyes at her in frustration. '_Let's quit, what kind of attitude is that?'_ thought Naruto.

'_This is exactly why I hate her, she is so weak,'_ were Sasuke's thoughts.

"No, we will continue this mission," said Naruto resolutely.

Tazuna then went on to explain about Gatou and how the building of Tazuna's bridge is going to help out the Wave's economy. Also, the reason behind not being able to hire better shinobi was that the Wave country is so poor that even the feudal lord doesn't have any money. He then went on to guilt-trip the shinobi into continuing the mission by bringing up his own death and then the miserable lives his daughter and grandson would have.

'_Smart actually,'_ thought Naruto when he heard Kakashi agree to continue on with the mission. They made it over the channel and into the Wave Country without incident. The only thing left now was to get to Tazuna's house in one piece, which Naruto knew would not be easy.

'_If we get attacked again it will be the next level up, a jounin,'_ thought Naruto and Kakashi. '_And judging from the previous attack who ever it is will be ready for us.'_

They continued walking for several minutes before Naruto, threw a kunai into the bushes.

"What the hell are you doing?" yelled Sakura.

"There was something there," he responded.

Sakura walked over and looked behind the bushes, where she saw a dead snow rabbit. "Naruto, what have you done?" she yelled.

'_God damn, she makes it sound like I did something incredibly horrible. It's just a rabbit. Though, rabbits shouldn't be white right now. It's spring, so all the rabbits that I know of are brown; meaning that this one isn't here naturally.'_

"Everybody get down!" yelled Kakashi suddenly. Naruto also felt the disturbance and instantly fell to the ground dragging Sakura with him. The giant head-cleaver passed right over them and embedded itself into a tree on the other side of the field. A ninja appeared standing on the sword's handle, looking over his shoulder at them.

'_This guy's definitely a jounin,'_ thought Naruto, waiting to see what Kakashi would do.

"Well, well if it isn't the Hidden Mist missing-nin Momochi Zabuza," greeted Kakashi. "Everyone get back, this one's on a whole other level. Against him it will be a little tough, unless I do this," Kakashi's hand went up to his slanted forehead protector.

"You appear to be Sharingan Kakashi," said the missing-nin. "Sorry, but the old man is mine."

'_Sharingan!'_ thought Sasuke in shock. '_How would Kakashi-sensei have the Sharingan?'_

"**Looks like your teacher is finally going to show off his trump card,"** said the Kyuubi in an amused voice.

'_The copying eyes,'_ thought Naruto.

"**Not only. Talented wielders can cast genjutsus using those eyes,"** explained the fox. "**And if they have an even better blood mix, they can achieve the second form of the Sharingan: the Mangekyou. But I'll save the details for later kit, now just watch the battle."**

"Surround and protect Tazuna-san, but do not enter the fight. That is the teamwork here," said Kakashi as he prepared to lift up his forehead protector. "Zabuza, first you have to fight me." He uncovered his left eye, revealing a red eye with three black dots.

'_So that's what it looks like,'_ thought Naruto. '_Two commas to copy and slightly foresee, and three to foresee completely and copy everything but bloodlines. A powerful ability, but it has its flaws; as does everything.'_

"I already get to see the famous Sharingan, I'm honored," said the former Mist-nin.

"Sharingan? What is that?" asked Sakura.

"Sharingan… is one of the types of pupil that gives you the ability to read and defeat all types of genjutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu," explained Sasuke. "But that's not the only ability the Sharingan has."

"Yes exactly, what's even scarier is that you can copy your opponent's techniques once you see them," added Zabuza. "When I was a member of the Hidden Mist assassination team I kept a handbook, it included information on you. What is said was: The man who copied over one thousand jutsu, Copy Ninja Kakashi."

Sakura was shocked that her teacher was such a great ninja. Sasuke, on the other hand, was confused because he knew that no one outside of the Uchiha clan should have the Sharingan. Naruto wondered exactly how extensive Kakashi's jutsu library was.

"Now, let's end this talking. I have that old man to kill," said Zabuza. The three genin instantly surrounded their client. "But Kakashi, it seems that I have to beat you first." He said and jumped down onto the water.

Naruto's eyes instantly narrowed at those words. '_He may say that, but that only gives more reason not to do so.'_

"Over there, on top of the water!" shouted Sakura.

"Ninpou: Hidden Mist no Jutsu," said Zabuza and faded into the rising fog.

"He'll come after me first," said Kakashi in an effort to calm his students. "Momochi Zabuza, as a member of the Hidden Mist was known as an expert in silent killing. You don't even notice until you're already dead. It's not like I can use the Sharingan perfectly, so you guys best be careful."

'_Silent killing, huh?'_ thought Naruto with a slight smile on his face. '_I like this guy already.'_

"**Don't get cocky now, you may like him but he'll still kill you. When you have **_**matured**_** more I'll teach you all about silent killing."**

'_Matured meaning having the Suiton Seal,'_ Naruto replied dryly.

"**Yes, the combination of water and earth is essential for keeping yourself completely hidden. But for now keep your ears open, just because you don't see him doesn't mean he doesn't see you."**

'_I know,'_ replied Naruto and shifted to a much more serious mood. '_The mist thickens, meaning he's getting ready to strike… but where?'_

"The mist is getting thicker, Kakashi-sensei," informed Sakura.

"Eight choices," A voice said. "Liver, lungs, spine, jugular vein, carotid artery, brain, kidneys, and heart. Which one should I go after?"

'_Listing off all the critical areas in order to scare us, but it won't work against me. Since I only have two critical areas: the heart and the brain. You either kill me instantly or I'll regenerate it.'_

Then the killer intent hit. Everyone was frozen, even Sasuke was having a hard time dealing with it. Naruto shrugged it off by running a bit more chakra through his entire body, but most genin didn't know that. That's when Kakashi summoned up a bit of his chakra, letting it flare around him to dispel the effect for all the genin.

"Sasuke, don't worry. I'll protect you guys even if it kills me," reassured Kakashi. "I don't let my comrades die."

'_A big help you'll be when dead,'_ thought Naruto sarcastically.

"We'll see about that!" a foreign voice called out right next to them.

Zabuza had managed to get in between the genin and Tazuna, because of Kakashi's chatting. Naruto found himself to be basically back-to-back with the enemy, and quickly decided to use his position to his advantage. He pulled out a shuriken and threw it behind him and slightly to the side, as he was being pushed away by Zabuza. When he had landed, he found that Zabuza had merely been a water clone and that there was another Zabuza right behind Kakashi halfway through a swing. However Kakashi also burst into water and appeared right behind Zabuza with a kunai to his throat.

"You don't get it," Zabuza said coldly. "There's no way you can defeat me with you monkey-like imitations. A good use of the Sharingan and the clones, but I am also not easy." Zabuza appeared right behind Kakashi, just as the water clone in front of Kakashi dispersed.

Zabuza tried to cut Kakashi in half, but the copy ninja ducked down and once the sword had passed over him, he kicked Zabuza away. Zabuza got up and rushed at Kakashi only to find throwing nails scattered across the ground; out of the corner of his eye he saw Kakashi jump into the water.

"Foolish," he said as he appeared right behind him. "Water Prison no Jutsu."

Kakashi cursed as he saw the water pulling in around him and found that he could not move. "You may have tried to escape to the water, but that was a big mistake. Now I have you in my inescapable special prison. Now Kakashi, we can finish things later, but first I'll take care of them. Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu."

A water clone formed in front of the three genin. Zabuza quickly mentioned that the three genin were not real shinobi and then disappeared. He reappeared right in front of Sakura and kicked her hard in the chest, leaving her to slide along the ground and then stomped on her forehead protector. "Just a brat," he commented.

"You guys, take Tazuna-san and run away! As long as he's keeping me trapped in this prison he can't move. The water clone can't stray very far from the real body. Just run away now!" advised Kakashi from within the prison.

'_This is a jounin! At this rate I'm really going to die! I don't want to die!'_ thought Sakura in desperation. She got up and started running away. She didn't make it far when strong hands caught her and roughly pulled her back. "No, let me go I don't want to die!" she screamed.

"Shut up!" yelled Naruto. "Just because you can't do it doesn't mean others also can't. What kind of teammate are you if you're just so willing to run away and save your own life while we risk ours?" Sakura stood there in shock with her eyes wide open. "You don't want to get involved in the front line action that's fine, then cover us from the back. However, don't you ever run away like that, or you are absolutely not worthy of even considering yourself to be a ninja."

'_Naruto, what? He's not like this usually,'_ thought Kakashi.

'_Not that I disagree, but the way it was presented, was just a bit harsh,'_ thought Sasuke.

'_That felt good. But now I've got to focus on the battle at hand. He's expecting an attack on his clone, but he is not even entertaining the possibility that we would go straight for him,'_ contemplated Naruto. '_I could easily enough take him out with a Doton jutsu, but no need for fancy things when simple will do.'_

"Sasuke, I have a plan!"

"Teamwork, eh?" replied Sasuke.

"Now, let's get wild!"

"A lot of arrogance, but you don't actually stand a chance," said Zabuza.

'_Keep underestimating us, the better for us.' _Naruto observed Zabuza in anticipation, "Are you ready?" he asked Sasuke.

"Hah, you guys will never grow up. Going to keep playing ninja, eh?" asked Zabuza mockingly. "When I was your age, these hands were already dyed red with blood."

"Devil Zabuza," muttered Kakashi. "Long ago in the Hidden Mist, there was a final obstacle in becoming a ninja."

"So you even know about the exam," Zabuza laughed darkly. It would have scarred Naruto if he had no been used to the Kyuubi laughing in about the same way. "The exam was a fight to the death between students. Friends who have trained and eaten together are pitted against each other, and go at it until one of them loses his or her life. These were friends who helped each other and shared dreams." Sasuke and Sakura had paled. Naruto was calmly listening to Zabuza's story and small appraisal commentary from the Kyuubi.

"Ten years ago the Hidden Mist's graduation exam was forced to change. This change came after the previous year, when a devil appeared. Without pause or hesitation, a young boy who was not even a ninja had killed over a hundred of the students."

'_Zabuza… the devil,'_ thought Naruto, but didn't have time to carry his thoughts any further. During the talking Zabuza's clone had moved into striking range of Sasuke and now had him pinned down under his foot. Naruto made a cross-shaped hand seal and made several dozen shadow clones appear all around Zabuza and Sasuke.

"Shadow clones," said Zabuza's clone, "and a large amount, but…" All of Naruto's shadow clones jumped on Zabuza and Sasuke. "Not enough!" Sasuke and all the Naruto's were thrown in different directions.

"Sasuke!" came a sudden yell. The said person looked up just in time to catch an Evil Wind Shuriken. He smirked when he figured out Naruto's plan.

"Evil Wind Shuriken: Shadow Windmill," said the Uchiha genius and jumped high into the air, before launching the weapon.

"A shuriken won't work against me," said Zabuza. He watched as the shuriken went around his clone and flew at him. "So you were aiming at the real me, but," he caught the shuriken mid-flight, "That's not enough." That's when he noticed the second shuriken that had hidden in the shadow of the first, flying right at him. "Good, but still not enough," declared the Mist missing-nin as he jumped over it.

Sakura paled, what where they going to do now that their plan had failed. Sasuke merely smirked confidently. The shuriken burst into smoke to reveal Naruto with a kunai already pulled back and ready to throw.

Zabuza had been caught off guard and the kunai managed to pierce the skin right below his right eye, while he was dodging it. "Damn brat!" he yelled as he twirled the shuriken, getting ready to throw it at the orange-clad genin. However, that plan was foiled when Kakashi blocked the spinning of the shuriken with the back of his fist.

"Great plan, Naruto," Kakashi congratulated his student. "You guys have grown up."

"So, I got distracted and released the jutsu," said Zabuza.

"No, you were forced to release it," corrected the copycat. Zabuza glared at him before jumping back and starting his hand seals before even landing on the water. Kakashi copied the former Mist-nin's movements completely.

They completed the long list of hand seals at the same time. "Suiton: Water Dragon Blast no Jutsu!" Twin dragons rose up out of the water between the jounin and attacked each other. Naruto had managed to land on top of the water, but at this point that did more harm than good as the two dragon attacks slammed right into him. Naruto was swept off by the attack and finally ended up with his back slammed hard into a tree trunk. The force of the attack was so hard that it felt as though the water was burning him.

After the attack was done, Naruto slumped down against the tree and watched as Kakashi used the Sharingan to trap Zabuza in a genjutsu. He winced once more, as the water swept up against him after the Water Explosion no Jutsu. '_Why the hell does it hurt so much?'_ he wondered as he lightly checked for broken bones, not finding any. Naruto bent over, breathing hard trying to tolerate the burning sensation on his left side. He looked up briefly when he heard the Mist hunter-nin's voice. '_Damn asshole, couldn't he have helped a little. Yeah go ahead take him along with you and do what ever you want.'_ The constant pain was so aggravating that Naruto could care less what happened around him.

Once the two Mist shinobi were gone, Naruto slowly got up and walked over to the rest of the party; all the while trying to show any pain. Kakashi had declared that it was over and they could safely go to Tazuna's house now. He promptly collapsed right after saying that. '_And he's a jounin?'_ wondered Naruto. '_He doesn't even know his own limits.'_ Luckily for him, Tazuna and Sasuke had already picked him up, so Naruto didn't have to waste his energy.

Several hours later, in Tazuna's house, Kakashi finally woke up saying that he wouldn't be able to move for a about a week or so. Everyone rejoiced at the end of the battle and the death of Zabuza, but Kakashi didn't seem too happy. When he was explaining about the duties of hunter-nin his voice was too calculating.

"Sensei, what's wrong?" worried Sakura.

"Well, body erasing teams usually dispose of the body of the person they killed right there," explained Kakashi.

"So what?"

"Don't you see? How did that masked boy dispose of Zabuza's body?"

"How should we know he took the body with him."

"Yes, exactly. He should only need the head for the kill confirmation. So most likely Zabuza is still alive." Everyone in the room paled at the news. "I checked that he was dead, but it most likely a momentary death. The needles that the boy used have a low probability of killing the opponent unless they hit a vital organ. Naruto smiled, he would get a chance to fight a strong opponent in the near future. '_He's actually happy about it,'_ thought Kakashi. "You guys will receive training in preparation for the upcoming battle."

"Training? But what is a little training going to do?" asked Sakura, making it sound like Kakashi was trying to get them killed.

Naruto's muscles tensed at the girl's ignorance, but he managed to keep his comments to himself. "Sakura, you guys saved me while I was struggling. So you guys are growing rapidly, especially Naruto. But obviously, this is just training until I get better. You won't be able to defeat Zabuza without me."

'_Such arrogance is what caused you, and us, to be in this current situation,'_ thought Naruto. '_If you just hadn't played around with him, then Zabuza would be dead and you wouldn't be lying there with chakra exhaustion.'_

"Mom, these people are going to die," said a young voice from behind Naruto.

Everyone turned to look at the newcomer. It was a little boy ten years of age and had the gloomiest disposition Sakura had ever seen. "What do you mean?" she asked nervously. Naruto mentality shook his head.

"There's no way you can win against Gatou," the boy explained. "If you don't want to die, you should leave."

"I'm sorry," apologized Tazuna. "My grandson, Inari, is going through a hard time right now."

"**The boy is right, in a way. You shouldn't actually be focusing on the missing-nin. They are mercenaries, meaning if there is no money waiting for them they have no reason to stay. So if you were to eliminate to the root of the problem, then the whole tree would die too."**

'_Kill Gatou and everything falls. I agree but this is not an assassination mission, I doubt Kakashi would do that even if he was in full health.'_ Naruto contemplated. '_If everyone here hates Gatou then they should have scrapped all their money together and gotten an assassin to kill the man. It would have saved a lot of headaches.'_

"**But then you would be out of a job, not to mention an actual mission,"** teased the fox.

'_I know that!'_ he mentally shouted.

"**But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about,"** this caught Naruto's attention. "**Whenever you're free you should take a look at your left arm, you might find something interesting."**

Naruto's eyes widened, '_You couldn't mean… it's finally activated!'_ he rejoiced.

The next day, Team Seven went out into the forest for the scheduled training. '_Is he finally going to be teaching us the tree-climbing exercise,'_ wondered Naruto, also speculating whether or not he should fake failure.

"Before we start the training I want to talk about the shinobi ability: chakra."

'_So we are doing that… well I'll just hold off until the end of the day to get it right.'_

"**Remember that we only have a week to train your new Suiton abilities, don't waste precious time!"**

"You guys may be able to do jutsus, but you are not using chakra efficiently." Naruto tuned out this conversation; he had gotten this lecture when he was nine years old.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Sakura.

"Tree climbing!" answered Kakashi.

"Tree climbing? What kind of training is that?" doubted Sakura.

"Listen until the end, please. This isn't normal tree climbing, you'll be climbing without using your hands." Kakashi channeled his chakra and just walked right up the side of the tree.

Naruto smirked; it had gotten instinctive for him by now. He was looking forward to the challenge of being able to backward-control his chakra, so he _wouldn't_ stick to the tree.

"See, gather your chakra to the bottom of your feet and climb up a tree. This is a cinch once you've mastered chakra control."

"Wait, but how does this exercise make us stronger?" asked Sakura.

"By being able to control chakra, you'll be able to master any jutsu; theoretically," explained Kakashi. "The second thing is that you'll develop the stamina needed to control chakra properly."

'_The second thing is something Sakura really needs,'_ thought the jounin. '_Compared to Sasuke and Naruto, she has almost none.'_

Kakashi quickly took out three kunai and threw them down to his students. "Use those to mark how high you've made it up the tree. You won't be good enough to climb up the tree at first."

The three genin ran towards their selected trees. Sasuke got up about ten feet before his use of too much chakra broke the bark and sent him tumbling down. Naruto withdrew most of his chakra, so he made it up only five feet before falling. Sakura was the only one to make it up to the branch. "This is pretty easy," she said smiling.

'_Of course, she has such small chakra reserves that I would be surprised if she couldn't control it,'_ thought Naruto even though he felt the slight tug of jealousy. '_I could have done on the first try too, but chose not to.'_ Kakashi made a certain comment about Hokage and the Uchiha clan, to forcefully motivate the boys. Sakura of course only depended on the Uchiha. Naruto decided to fake ignorance and went up to Sakura for asking for some tips.

Half an hour had passed and Naruto hadn't made any progress at all. '_Damn it, I'm holding my chakra back because I know that I'll stick if I use any more. And it hasn't come time to walk away yet.'_ Naruto kept cursing under his breath.

Things hadn't gone as Naruto planned. Kakashi stayed with them until nightfall and didn't allow them to train afterwards. So Naruto was forced to come back the next day for the same training. '_Damn it! This is really eating up my training time!'_ He looked over at Sasuke. '_Would he find it weird? Of course he would, but the question is would he tell Kakashi if I suddenly made it to the top?'_ Naruto deliberated on this for a while until Sasuke's voice brought him back to reality.

"What do you want?"

"What… what did Sakura tell you?" asked the Uchiha 'genius'.

"Huh? Oh, just keep your emotions in check and focus on the chakra instead of the people around you," said Naruto calmly; he had come to a resolve. "Like this." He gracefully walked up the tree. No wasted effort, no exuberant shouting, just a calm walk up the tree as if he had been doing in his whole life.

Sasuke just stared in amazement as the 'dobe' had just beaten him completely. Then his face contorted in a scowl, '_He was making fun of me just now. I'll show him,'_ thought Sasuke angrily and completely forgot all the advise Naruto had just given him. Naruto watched this from the top of the tree, shaking his head before jumping away towards the coast.

"Ah, I finally managed to get away."

"**Good, now take off your shirt and have a look at your tattoo,"** ordered the fox. Naruto complied and found that indeed two tattoos had appeared on his left arm. The black part of the tattoo was identical to the one on his right arm, but what the part that was gray on his right arm was ice blue on his left. "**As you can see, this time you got both the control seal and the connector to the Supremacy. The change in color is element specific, but you'll fully understand only when the runes develop."**

'_How far am I from the runes?'_

"**Your Doton brown line has yet to extend into your chest and only after that will the runes start forming,"** explained Kyuubi.

'_Quite a while huh?'_

"**No use rushing these things. After all, you do need to perfect your control over the ones you already know."**

'_Sometimes I feel like you're controlling how fast the seal spreads.'_

"**Well in a way, maybe, with what I teach you and how fast, but the seal has a mind of its own. However, enough chit chat, go stand **_**in **_**water and become one with it."**

Naruto knew exactly what the Kyuubi meant. It had been the same for his Doton training. First he had to feel the water beneath him and around him. Get a feel for how it flowed, for everything that it flowed around and then be able to discern the things that were floating and/or swimming in it; to be at one with water in his environment. It was like an extension on meditation, because he wasn't just focusing on himself, but also on another object. In this case a very large object.

Suiton and Doton, the Kyuubi had explained, are the most plentiful of all the elements, except for maybe Fuiton. These two elements are always around you, and to have complete control over them gives you a very big advantage in battle. The Kyuubi had mentioned a Tanuki, in passing, that had control over Fuiton and Doton. This Tanuki seemed to mostly focus on defense and didn't use his Doton abilities to their full capabilities. Naruto got the distinct feeling that the Kyuubi and the Tanuki did not get along well.

Naruto had achieved Supremacy over Doton when he turned eleven. Even now when he was standing waist-deep in the water he could feel the sand beneath his feet and that gave him a link to all the earth in a certain radius. This radius would grow, said the Kyuubi, along with Naruto's abilities and the formations of the runes, which were said to give innate control over the element of choice. What that exactly meant Naruto did not know, and the Kyuubi chose not to elaborate; saying that guesses could not be made since he was only half-demon.

Naruto had his eyes closed in concentration as he felt himself bonding with the water all around him. He had restrained himself several times and had not applied control to the water, but rather listened to it and to the patterns being formed by the current. After a while Naruto started feeling as if there was water surrounding his upper body as well as his lower body.

"**Those are water particles found in the air. Since we are right next to the ocean, there is a lot more water in the air, which in turn means that it is easier for you to feel and find. Though I must say that I'm impressed with the progress you are making."** Naruto smiled at the compliment, they were rare and few, and were to be highly cherished. "**Alright, I think that'll be enough. Now I want to you to make a Mizu Bunshin."**

Naruto waited a little bit longer for the Kyuubi to tell him the seals, but then realized that since he knew the Kage Bunshin he wouldn't need them. Naruto concentrated on the water and on his form and sent chakra into the water. Slowly a perfect Mizu Bunshin rose out of the water and walked on top of it toward Naruto.

"**Good. Now work to increase the speed and vary the image you give the clone. Since this is not the shadow clone which you have to pull out of your chakra, a Mizu Bunshin can be made having any shape you desire."**

'I_f I want to confuse the enemy by making a Mizu Bunshin of one of my teammates, or a non-existent teammate, I could do that.'_

"**Yes, the same chakra signature, but two different people and it's not genjutsu. Most shinobi, even from the Mist, do not know about this little feature."**

Naruto trained like that way into the night. He did not even feel hungry until he woke up the next morning on the shore. But he had mastered it, the Mizu Bunshin was done, he could now make a dozen or so water clones simultaneously each with a different image. He didn't bother going back to Tazuna's house and used his newfound powers to catch a fish.

Sadly Naruto was limited to only pre-existing water jutsu, since he did not have Suiton Supremacy yet and could not manipulate water in any way he saw fit. Next, the Kyuubi had him do the Hidden Mist no Jutsu that Zabuza had used in battle. Naruto had to draw out the water from the ocean and combine it with the already existing water in the air. While it doesn't sound too hard, it was definitely the step up from just making things out of water. Again though this was very much like what he had to do when training with Doton, so his previous knowledge helped greatly.

"**Good, now that you've got pretty good control of these two stages we are going to be moving on into the third one. So far you have only been manipulating the water in calm ways."** Naruto nodded in agreement and understanding. "**Now, we are going to move on the violent manipulations. First I want you to spin the water around you, then make it rise up while spinning; initially in a column then make it more into a sphere." **

'_A shield of sorts,'_ deduced Naruto.

"**Quite so, the Water Sphere Barrier, this is probably the most efficient barrier. While there is a simpler one that just creates a wall of water in front of you, it is not very practical. The Water Sphere Barrier does use a bit more chakra, but it can be using to counter-attack during or after the enemy's attack. I've found that in serious battles you don't have time to make the hand seals, concentrate, and re-gather water for an attack."**

It took Naruto only four to five hours to make the Water Sphere Barrier and move on to learning the counter-attacks built into it. After which, Naruto was thrown into learning the more destructive Suiton attacks like Water Explosion no Jutsu. Though almost all the things Naruto learned were attacks to use if the enemy was in the water. Most of the surface attacks, the Kyuubi instructed Naruto to wait until after obtaining Supremacy, simply because surface techniques took a lot of chakra and very many hand seals.

"**Manipulate the inner works of water: yes. Directing water: yes. But making water rise up in a certain shape and destroy things: that right was not given to humans. That is why the Water Dragon Blast takes so many hand seals, because humans are not meant to manipulate water in such ways. I don't see why they don't use tsunami-like jutsus. Surface jutsus that don't take any intricate shape, but do about the same amount of damage. Yes, they cost a bit more chakra, but they require at least half as many hand seals and their formation is quicker."** Naruto listened closely to the fox talk about the various jutsus and their respective efficiencies.

That night Naruto did come back to Tazuna's house, just in time for dinner.

"Naruto, where have you been?" shouted Sakura.

"Training, of course," was the tired response.

"But Sasuke-kun said that you weren't tree climbing anymore."

"I finished that exercise and now I'm training on my own."

"Naruto, building up your own strength is fine, but you have to consider that you are part of a team," reasoned Kakashi. '_Damn, if only I wasn't injured I would be able to track him and find out how he trains.'_

Naruto was about to answer, but the food had just arrived and he dug in instantly. He ate quickly and asked for seconds before anyone had even gotten through half of his or her meal. He then proceeded to eat the second portion just as fast as the first and was done at the same time that everyone else had finished.

"Excuse me, I need to go train," he said as he rose up from the table and headed to the door.

"Naruto, at least take someone with you to train together," suggested Kakashi.

"Sorry sensei, but this is personal training," he paused. "And I don't think anyone could keep up with what I'm doing." He opened the door and walked out onto the dock.

Sasuke ran up to him and grabbed him by the collar. "Damn it dobe, stop being so stupid!"

"Let me go you bastard!" yelled Naruto.

Sasuke complied and threw Naruto off the dock. By this time everyone had already walked out of the house and were shocked to see that Naruto was crouched down on top of the water.

"Naruto…" Sakura trailed off.

Naruto looked up to see a bunch of shocked faces. '_What are they so surprised about… Oh shit! I instinctively landed on top of the water. Um, how to explain this?'_ panicked Naruto.

"Naruto, I did not know that you had mastered water walking already," said Kakashi happily; Naruto narrowed his eyes at him. "Maybe you were right, maybe we can't keep up with you." Sasuke scowled, he knew that comment was made for him. In all this time he had only gotten halfway up the tree and Naruto was already water walking. '_Though something worries me, Naruto is not smart enough to figure out the direct connection between tree climbing and water walking. This does not add up, some fact is still obscured…'_ contemplated Kakashi.

Naruto smiled, "Yup, I've already mastered water walking and I've got some other things I want to master. That is why I am going to train!" he said joyfully. '_Hey, I'm actually not lying.'_

"Why do you guys bother to try so hard? No matter how hard you train you're still no match for Gatou's men," cried Inari. "No matter what glorious claims you make or hard you work when facing the strong, the weak will only end up getting killed!"

"Whatever kid, just give up I'm not going to listen to you," said Naruto.

"I'd hate to be like you! What do you know about me?" he screamed. "You're always clowning around and acting cheerful, you don't know how hard life can be!"

Naruto almost completely lost control at that point. Kakashi felt a rise in Naruto's chakra and flinched a little, but relaxed when it had calmed down. "So, you think it's ok for you to pose as the star of a tragedy and cry all day? Just keep crying forever, you idiot! You little sissy! Complaining about a hard life…" Naruto sneered.

"Naruto! You've said enough!" reprimanded Sakura.

"Shut up! You don't know anything either, so stay out the conversation," he turned and walked away, disappearing in the forest.

Once far away from Tazuna's house, Naruto finally released the hold over his chakra and vented his rage on the section of the forest; leaving it bare of any sort of vegetation. "That fucking kid! Who the hell does he think he is? He looses a guy that has been his father for a year or two and thinks he can cry about his whole life. While he still has a mother and a grandfather that love him and care about him. Stupid weak human," he said in disgust.

Naruto was breathing hard now and felt half of his chakra supply gone, but he also felt very much at ease, much more so than he had in a long time.

"**Kit, no more Suiton training tonight. I want you to run through the taijutsu exercises. Also add you current anger, but control it so that it adds to your power, not your insanity."**

"I understand, Kyu."

Naruto trained for the rest of the night, falling asleep early in the morning when the eastern sky was just turning from black to dark blue. He had only slept for a couple of hours when he felt someone he didn't know reaching for him. Naruto immediately jumped up and caught the person's hand before they could attempt anything.

Naruto relaxed considerably when he saw that the person before him was a woman with long black hair. "You'll catch a cold sleeping in a place like this," she said kindly.

"Who are you? What are you doing out here?" asked Naruto. '_Suppressed chakra, but slightly familiar for some reason…'_

"I'm collecting medical herbs for my friend," she replied.

"This early in the morning?"

"You too, what are you doing here so early?" was the questioning reply.

'_She's hiding something, by avoiding my question and putting up her own instead.'_ Naruto decided to play this game for a little while. "I'm training."

"You are a ninja, aren't you?"

"Yup!"

"Why are you training?" she asked slowly.

"Because I need to become stronger," explained Naruto. '_Damn it, she hides her chakra very well. If only she would flash a bit more of it, then I might be able to remember.'_

"Why is that?"

"Because I'm going to become the best ninja and make everyone acknowledge my strength."

"Is that for someone else or for yourself?"

"Umm… a little bit of both…" slowly answered Naruto.

"Do you have someone that is important to you?" she paused and bent her head down as the memories flooded her mind. Unknowingly it also lessened her chakra suppression.

That's all it took for Naruto to figure out who this was. '_Him! That masked hunter-nin!'_

"When a person has something important to protect, that's when they can become truly strong."

Naruto smiled genuinely as an image flashed in his mind, "Yeah, I understand very well."

"Then you will become strong," he said and got up to walk away. "Let's meet again somewhere. Oh and also, I'm a boy."

"I know," came the calculated answer. "We'll meet again within several days." The boy looked over his shoulder with serious eyes and nodded before continuing on.

Naruto fell back onto the ground and went back to sleep.

Naruto was once again in front of the Kyuubi's prison, but this time the water was gone. He slowly walked up to the bars and peered in, seeing nothing but darkness. "Kyu?" he called. There was no response. Instead he saw a small red light that kept getting bigger and bigger.

The light was actually a person, a woman. She was wearing a long black dress. Victorian style except that it was strapless and the sleeves were more kimono-like. Nine soft, fluffy orange tails swayed behind her and she elegantly walked toward Naruto. She had her fire-orange hair put up with nine golden hairpins and she wore brilliant diamond earrings. Her lips were a deep red color and her animalistic red eyes were glowing.

"Yes, Naruto-kun," she said sweetly. She had heard everything Naruto and the hunter-nin had spoken of and had also seen the image that flashed in Naruto's mind. "I'm glad I'm that important to you."

* * *

Princess Kitana - You.. you.. you ruined it for me... It was supposed to be a surprise for everyone.. -sigh- ... Though I must say that I'm impressed that someone was able to figure it out.

Also everyone out there that wants me to speed up the story: I'm already halfway through the Wave Country mission on the third chapter. How much faster do you expect the story to go? I'm actually setting up a plot line here, leading in to the main parts, IMO there's no other way to write a proper story.

Crediting:  
Betaing for this chapter: Demon Kaizoki  
Inspiration on the pairing: Croaky at deviantart (the link is on my profile)

Next chapter: Finishes off Wave Mission, and ends w/... I dunno wat yet... but ch5 is definitely gonna be the Chuunin Exam... so sometime b4 that...


	4. Show Off

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Thank you to all my reviewers!

"blah" speech  
"_blah_" thoughts  
"**blah**" Kyuubi's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Kyuubi's thoughts

JohnnyG - I'm definitely trying for the medium.

omnikaze - Umm... ANC is finished.

sephynarutocloud - just wait... don't be so quick to judge.

God in a box - That's a good question... I'll have to give it some thought, and integrate an answer into the story. As for your suggestion: thanks for the effort, but no. All I can say is, you're thinking too shallow... Sorry, I can't say anymore it would reveal too much.

If you are wondering why I updated so quickly: it's not quite like that. Actually ch3 was released late, and ch4 is on time... (note: there is no set time schedule, chapters just 'feel' late...)

**As of 9/23/08**: Fixed that little error about Naruto knowing Haku's name even though Haku hadn't introduced himself. Small battle details added/edited.

* * *

Chapter 4 – Show Off

"Good thing we found him," said Kakashi. "He seems to have pushed his body to the limit and probably won't be able to move today."

Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura set off for the bridge, leaving Naruto to rest in Tazuna's house. Kakashi had found Naruto about an hour earlier when he had been sneaking around the forest to see what kind of exercises Naruto was doing. The smile on Naruto's face, when Kakashi had found him, clearly indicated that he was having a very good dream.

Naruto's eyes cracked open slowly, at first, then suddenly flew open when his sleepy mind realized that there was a ceiling above him, instead of sky. Naruto quickly figured that someone must have found him and brought him back to Tazuna's house, and judging from the rolled up futons, his team had already left. Naruto got up and slid open the door. Looking around he spotted Tazuna's daughter.

"Hey, where is everyone?"

"Oh Naruto, you're already awake," she smiled. "Sensei said you should rest."

"So I take it they left without me; well that's fine. Any chance I could get breakfast?" asked Naruto.

"Sure, I'll make you some right now."

Naruto thanked her and went back to his room to change, giving little thought to rest and much to training. Suddenly the house rumbled and Naruto distinctly picked out the sound of swords being unsheathed. Naruto peaked through a small hole in the door, thinking, '_Two wanna-be samurai that obviously don't know how to use a door.'_ He sighed, why did he constantly have idiots to deal with? '_Oh h__ey, Inari actually didn't run away and stood up for his mom… even if it took him a while, but at least they are out of the house now.'_

Naruto jumped out the window and swam under the dock, until he was right below the samurai. He made a few hand seals, "Suiton: Dual Column no Jutsu," he whispered. The water on either side of Naruto swirled and as Naruto raised his arms, two columns of water rose up to in an arc shape. When his arms were half way up, Naruto quickly brought them together in a clap above his head; as expected the samurai heard the clap and looked down. Meanwhile, the two water columns closed in on the samurai and Tazuna's daughter from both sides.

The samurai, being distracted by Naruto's clap didn't see the columns until it was too late. Naruto had prepared to jump through the dock to get Tazuna's daughter out of harm's way, but stopped himself when he saw Inari jump and tackle his mom so that the jutsu wouldn't hit her. The samurai weren't quite so lucky and got knocked out by the water. Naruto quickly tied up the two samurai and ran off to the bridge to help out his team.

'_No rest for me,'_ he grumbled. '_Sasuke is no match for that hunter-nin; Sharingan or no Sharingan. Meaning I have to do everything, again.'_

"**Oh shut up, kit! Finally a strong opponent and you're complaining!"**

)))))The Bridge(((((

Tazuna, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura arrived at the bridge to find almost all the workers knocked out. "What happened?" asked Tazuna.

"A m-monster," whispered the only conscious worker, before passing out.

The mist instantly started gathering around them. "Here they come," shouted Kakashi. Sasuke and Sakura immediately drew their kunai and stood back-to-back with each other.

"Long time no see, Kakashi," said a familiar voice in the mist. "I see you're still with those brats. One of them is shaking… poor guy," laughed Zabuza. Ten Zabuza suddenly appeared from the mist and surrounded the little group.

"I'm shaking from excitement," corrected Sasuke and quickly destroyed all of Zabuza's water clones.

"So, he saw through the water clones, the brat has grown. It looks like a rival has appeared, eh Haku?"

"It does indeed," answered the same hunter-nin that had rescued Zabuza the week before. He was now standing slightly behind his master.

"That masked boy is obviously Zabuza's comrade," said Kakashi.

"I'll fight him," declared Sasuke. "Tricking us with that stupid act, I hate bastards like that the most."

"An impressive young man," commented Haku. "Even though Mizu Bunshins only have one tenth the strength of the original."

"But we have the first advantage," replied Zabuza. "Go!"

Haku attacked Sasuke with a spinning move that the Uchiha managed to block. Haku's needles and Sasuke's kunai clashed several times; Sasuke keeping up with Haku's speed each time.

"I don't want to have to kill you, but you won't stand down, will you?" asked Haku politely.

"Don't be foolish," was the reply.

"But you won't be able to keep up anymore, since I have already gained two advantages."

"Two!?"

"The first is the water on the ground, and the second is that one of your hands has been occupied," answered Haku and started doing one-handed seals; astonishing both Sasuke and Kakashi. '_Special Jutsu: Flying Water Needles,'_ thought Haku was he stomped his foot. Water went flying everywhere and soon materialized into hundreds of needles all aimed at Sasuke.

Sasuke concentrated on the training that they had been doing and transferred enough chakra to his legs to be able to jump out the striking zone. While in the air, Sasuke launched several shuriken down at Haku, which the Mist-nin dodged. Haku was surprised when Sasuke appeared behind him and slashed with his kunai. Haku ducked under it, but was kicked right in the face.

"I can't have you underestimating my team by calling them brats," said Kakashi. "Sasuke is Konoha's number one rookie, Sakura is the brightest in the village, and the other is the show-off, hyper-active, number one loudest ninja in the village."

"Haku, do you realize that at this rate we will be driven back?" asked Zabuza.

"Yeah, and we can't have that…" he said as he put his hand into a strange seal. "Special Jutsu: Demonic Ice Mirrors." Haku's ice mirrors quickly surrounded Sasuke. Once the jutsu was done, Haku stepped into one of the mirrors and instantly his image appeared in all of them.

"Damn it!" Kakashi leaped off to help Sasuke, but Zabuza got in his way and he realized that he would have to fight with Zabuza or else Zabuza would just kill Sakura and Tazuna.

"Well, shall I begin and show you my real speed?" asked the ice-nin, right before he threw several hundred needles at Sasuke, from all different directions.

"Tazuna-san, I'm sorry, but I need to leave you for a second," said Sakura as she ran slightly to the side and threw Sasuke her kunai.

However it never made it there, as Haku reached out of his mirror and blocked it. A shuriken appeared out of nowhere and knocked Haku out of the mirror. '_Who the hell?'_

Naruto had been sitting on railing of the bridge, hidden in the mist, watching the proceedings. He decided he wouldn't interfere until Sasuke got himself into too deep a hole. '_Demonic Ice Mirrors, a bloodline technique_,_ no doubt about it,'_ thought Naruto gravely. He faintly heard Kyuubi murmur something about Supremacy in a sad tone, but had ignored it. Naruto knew that the best way to defeat it would be to attack from the outside while Sasuke attacked from the inside, but … that would be considered smart. Not only that, but he knew that Kakashi would soon be too distracted fighting Zabuza to pay attention to him, and then he might be able to try out one of Kyuubi's jutsus.

Kyuubi had taught it to him a long time ago, saying that since it took quite a bit of time to start up it would mostly be used as a show of power. While it could be considered both an offensive and a defensive technique, it was more offensive than it was defensive. Also, it wouldn't work quite as effectively from the outside of Haku's mirrors. So he would have to play the idiot, get inside the mirrors, hopefully Sasuke would pass out and then he would be free to do it. '_I'll probably have to hide the mirrors in the mist, but they will just assume Zabuza did that so it is of no consequence.'_ Naruto saw his chance and knocked Haku out of his mirror, using the confusion to sneak inside the mirrors, right up to Sasuke.

"You total moron!! If you are a shinobi, why don't you use your head? Why did you come _inside_ the mirrors?" berated Sasuke. Realizing that Naruto wouldn't be much help, Sasuke decided to try and melt the mirrors with a fire technique.

"You can't melt this ice with that level of fire," said Haku.

"Fine then!" yelled Naruto. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" But before any of Naruto could reach a mirror they were all destroyed. '_He's not using Bunshin, because then either water or smoke would show when the copies in the mirrors disappeared,'_ deduced Naruto. '_Meaning there is still only one of him.'_

Naruto considered what Haku had said about speed and came to the conclusion that the masked boy must be moving between mirrors at an unfathomable speed. '_He went out of the mirrors to destroy the Kage Bunshin; why? Because they do pose a threat of some sort.'_ Naruto paused to contemplate,_ 'So while not being able to melt, the mirrors can be broken. In that case, my jutsu works perfectly.'_

"This jutsu uses the mirror's reflection to transport me," Haku confirmed Naruto suspicions. "From my point of view, you seem to be moving in slow motion." Haku then started talking about how it is difficult for him to become a true shinobi, but that for the sake of his dreams he would be able to destroy his heart and kill other people.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto! Don't loose to that guy!" yelled Sakura.

"No Sakura, don't egg them on," said Kakashi. "They don't yet have the strength to destroy their hearts and kill another person."

"Of course, a real shinobi cannot come from a peaceful village like yours," taunted Zabuza. "Because you cannot gain the most important thing: the experience of killing."

Kakashi scowled, "Sorry, but," he reached up for his forehead protector. "I'm going to end this instantly."

"Sharingan again? Is that the best you can do?" Zabuza jumped forward and attempted to slash at Kakashi's left eye with a kunai. His efforts were stopped, but he did manage to cut Kakashi hand, which the copycat used to block. Kakashi lifted by his forehead protector and revealed the Sharingan, but Zabuza just laughed. "I have already seen through the trivial system of that eye; Ninpou: Hidden Mist no Jutsu."

Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke were busy deflecting as many of the needles as they could. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw that Zabuza had finally gotten serious with Kakashi. '_Good, now the mist hides us. If only Sasuke were to be knocked out now…'_ thought Naruto while blocking some more needles.

'_The mist is too thick, so Zabuza shouldn't be able to see either,'_ thought Kakashi. He suddenly felt several projectiles headed his way. He managed to block them all, and caught a glimpse of Zabuza, who had his eyes purposely closed.

"As I said before, I have already figured out that eye of yours. So to counter it I make a mist which renders your eye useless and if I keep my eyes closed I remove the chance of being hypnotized," explained Zabuza after dissecting the theory behind Kakashi's Sharingan.

"But then you can't see anything either," reasoned Kakashi.

"Have you forgotten that I am a genius at silent killing?" asked Zabuza.

Kakashi paled. He also quickly realized that Zabuza would go for Tazuna, now that Kakashi was handicapped. Thus the copy ninja barely made it in time to shield Tazuna and Sakura with his own body. Zabuza disappeared again after taunting Kakashi.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes, "As a former member of the ANBU. I'm not just all about copying; I'll show you my own jutsu."

Naruto was starting to look like a porcupine. '_Damn it, I've taken too many needles! The good thing is that Sasuke is taking more than me. That last needle blitzkrieg seems to have taken a lot out of him,'_ thought Naruto as he looked up at Sasuke.

"Geez, all you do is get in the way," Sasuke slowly said. That's when Naruto noticed that there were needles sticking out of his neck.

"You idiot! I could have easily taken the hit," shouted Naruto as he watched Sasuke fall on the ground and into fake death.

"He landed a blow on me and without flinching died to protect you. He is a shinobi that deserves respect," said Haku. "Is this your first death of a friend?" Haku gently slid back into a mirror.

Naruto started chuckling lightly. That soon turned into a full-blown laugh. "You really expect me to believe that he is dead… no, I understand perfectly that it is only temporary." Haku's eyes widened; the boy shouldn't be able to know this. "However, you don't have to worry about him. Your life is the one at stake now."

A surge of chakra erupted from Naruto. All needles that were stuck in him were pushed out and all the cuts healed. Naruto's claws grew out, the whisker marks deepened, and his smile exposed the fangs. "Friend?" questioned Naruto is a rough voice with his head bowed. "He is at most a teammate." Naruto raised his head to reveal the animalistic slited red eyes; Haku drew back in shock and slight fear.

Naruto snarled and made as if to jump at his opponent, resulting in Haku throwing the needles he had been holding. Naruto simply made a hand movement, as if to shoo away a fly, and the needles were deflected by chakra. Haku shivered lightly from the killer intent radiating from blonde boy, before transferring his image to all the mirrors and throwing several dozen needles at the same time. Naruto didn't even bother to block and let the needles hit him.

He ran through two-dozen hand seals in what seemed like an instant, "Demonic: Nine-Tailed Whirlwind". The needles flew out of him as he released a massive amount of pure red chakra. The chakra looked like there were nine tails stemming from Naruto's tailbone. These tails fiercely whirled around Naruto; the raw chakra was chipping away at the mirrors and the ground. Suddenly the tails lengthened and whirled outwards, lashing out at the mirrors. Any mirror that was struck by the tail instantly shattered, and considering that the tails where moving in a spiral trajectory, within five seconds all of Haku's mirrors were destroyed.

Haku dropped down out of a fragment of the top-most mirror, attacking Naruto with as much speed as he could muster. Naruto jumped away very quickly and came back just as fast to grab Haku by the wrist. Naruto's grip kept tightening, even after his claws had drawn blood from the masked ninja. He felt bones break and heard Haku scream. Naruto then pulled back his right fist, transferring chakra to it, and punched Haku right in the face; never letting go of the hunter-nin's wrist.

Haku flew and tumbled then on the ground, leaving a splash of blood at every tumble, until he came to stop over fifty feet away. He shakily got up, even as his mask slid from his face and his vision blurred, '_Zabuza-san… I cannot… defeat this boy…'_ he thought as he saw Naruto charge him.

As Naruto got closer, he saw that the masked ninja had indeed been the one he had met in the forest. Naruto jumped at Haku and slashed at his face with a clawed hand. Haku's left cheek was bleeding from two long cuts, his left eye was closed with blood gushing out of it, and the left side of his forehead had another long cut across it. Haku wasn't even given enough time to scream before a rough punch was delivered to his abdomen, making him cough out blood. His nose was immediately broken by Naruto's knee.

"I told you we would meet again, Haku," Naruto licked the blood off his claws. "And unlike you, it is very easy for me to be a real shinobi." He grasped onto Haku's throat with his clawed hand.

"Why did you not do so from the beginning?" said Haku in between coughs.

"Secrecy," simply stated Naruto. "I don't want them to know just how strong their demon is. You understand what I mean; I can tell by your eyes you do." Haku looked down sadly as he remembered killing his father. "If only we weren't hated and rejected, we would have actually done good for the people we must otherwise kill."

Naruto laughed once more, "Those idiots behind me can easily be manipulated to think that I'm stupid and weak. How will I explain killing you, you ask? That's also simple," Naruto grinned. "All I have to do is say that I saw Sasuke dying and then went berserk and don't remember much about anything else. Kakashi will attribute it to the Kyuubi, Sakura will be too hung up on Sasuke to even notice, and the arrogant bastard himself will just be brooding that I defeated an opponent that he could not."

"And your precious person?" asked Haku, already guessing the answer.

Naruto patted his stomach, "The same as you… a demon." Haku nodded in understanding. His eyes suddenly flickered up and looked behind Naruto and off into the mist. "I know, you want to go help Zabuza, right?" Haku nodded. Naruto thought a moment, "He's still going to die you know?" Haku nodded once more, but his eyes held a strong determination. Naruto's grip loosened, "Be thankful that I understand you and your feelings so well."

Haku bowed his head to Naruto. "I am very grateful." Haku disappeared in the blink of an eye to save Zabuza.

"Only one reason why I let him go," muttered Naruto under this breath. "I wouldn't want to die with regret in my heart either." Naruto launched himself after Haku, knowing quite well that the boy was already dead, but there was still one more opponent on whose life he may feast on.

Naruto arrived to find Haku impaled through the heart by Kakashi's hand; blood spraying out everywhere. Sakura looked like was about to throw up. Kakashi was horrified that his technique had actually hit the masked boy. Zabuza was stunned by what his student had done for him.

There was a scroll lying several feet behind Kakashi that had several needles embedded into it, and the ground around Zabuza had been torn apart. '_A Doton jutsu?'_ wondered Naruto.

"**No, a summoning tracking jutsu,"** explained the fox. "**With dogs,"** she seethed. Naruto felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and even more demonic chakra leaked into his system.

The fanged boy snarled and launched himself at a weakened Zabuza, who was too preoccupied with Kakashi to notice. Just as Zabuza had swung his sword, Naruto latched a clawed hand around the missing-nin's throat and, sinking his claws in, ripped out all he could.

Blood sprayed forward in a jet, Zabuza's eyes were forever frozen in shock and fear, and Naruto was holding some blood-covered object in his right hand. Sakura couldn't take it anymore and threw up instantly. Kakashi was staring at Naruto in awe and fear. Awe that Naruto could so easily take down Zabuza, and fear that the Kyuubi had taken over and that now they were all as good as dead.

Zabuza's body fell to the ground with a solid thud. Naruto threw Zabuza's voice box down onto the corpse and almost instantly fell to one knee as the Kyuubi's chakra receded. The boy stayed crouched down like that, panting, for a several minutes. Kyuubi's chakra always took a toll on his body. Kyuubi had said that when Naruto was fast and strong enough on his own, this stress would be nothing. However, it seemed that every time Naruto used her chakra, he still wasn't strong enough, wasn't fast enough. Naruto realized that he still had quite a ways to go before he could use the demonic chakra without straining all the nerves and muscles in his body. Not only that, but the demonic chakra, while it was able to mix in small amounts with his human chakra, did quite a number on his chakra pathways if released in large amounts.

"**You also use the chakra for a more prolonged period, each time,"** reminded Kyuubi. "**When it truly comes down to it, human chakra pathways are not meant to conduct demonic chakra."**

Naruto vaguely registered that Gatou had come with a huge army of men to kill all of them. He didn't even notice as Sakura ran past him to check up on Sasuke; he did smirk a bit when he heard her scream about Haku's torn off arm lying next to Sasuke. He was slightly more aware when Inari brought an equally big army to fight against Gatou. By the time the two armies were getting ready to attack, Naruto had more or less completely regained control of his body.

Kakashi was still trying to figure out how to fight so many people while they all had so little chakra. Naruto decided to cut to the chase and do as the Kyuubi had suggested a while ago: kill the roots. Or in this case, there was only one root.

Naruto pulled together his remaining chakra, or at least as much as he could get a hold of, and pressed his palms into the ground. '_This will be the end of my chakra, but it'll solve the problem.'_ Naruto lightly taped his Doton Supremacy so he wouldn't need to do hand seals, since his mind was already swimming. "Doton: Explosion," he practically mouthed. The ground under Gatou shook slightly, but he didn't understand, and thus didn't move. Within a second the ground beneath Gatou exploded, tearing the old man to pieces. Several of his limbs could be seen lying around on the bridge while most had actually fallen into the waters below. Kakashi looked back in amazement, just in time to see Naruto fall to ground unconscious.

Gatou's army was bewildered. They had just lost their commander and had no idea what they should actually do. On the one hand they could plow over the shinobi and villagers before them. But the heart of the matter was, what then? Their source of money was gone, so why should they risk getting hurt if there was no reward. They knew quite well how poor the Wave Country was, there would be nothing of value for them to steal.

Using their hesitation, Kakashi decided to scare them a little. "Bunshin no Jutsu," he whispered and made at least fifty copies of himself. The bandits instantly figured out the answer to their problem: run. So they did, leaving the villagers to shout in victory.

Kakashi made his way over to Naruto and made sure that he was still alive. '_His feelings must have resonated with the fox and thus the seal weakened a little to let the chakra out,'_ reasoned the jounin. '_Since his fight with Haku hadn't ended he rushed after the masked boy and killed the first person that got in his way.'_ Sasuke and Sakura had also made their way over to the unconscious blonde.

"Is he going to be alright?" asked Sakura.

"Yes, this time he went over the limit," reassured Kakashi.

"Did Naruto kill Haku?" suddenly asked Sasuke.

"No, Kakashi-sensei killed Haku," replied Sakura. "But, Naruto did kill Zabuza right after." She paled just remembering the sight.

Sasuke stared at Naruto with his eyes wide open. '_Not only did he somehow break out of that jutsu, but also managed to kill Zabuza. Damn it! Why am I still so weak!?'_ Sasuke scowled.

Kakashi looked over at the Uchiha with a worried face as he slid down his forehead protector. '_He must be berating himself for not being able to defeat Haku.'_ The jounin thought about saying something, but in the end decided to keep quiet. Kakashi looked back down at Naruto. '_How did he know that Doton jutsu?'_ wondered Kakashi as he picked up the sleeping boy. '_There was no one else that could have done it, right? Sasuke? No, he was just getting up from a temporary death. I'll have to ask Naruto about this later.'_

"Umm sensei, is Naruto really going to be alright?" asked Sakura again.

"Of course he is."

"Well, it's just that you were looking at him with such a serious expression."

"No, no don't worry Naruto is going to be just fine," assured Kakashi. "He should be up and running again in a day or two."

However, it was not to be how Kakashi had predicted. Naruto slept through the next two days straight. Only waking up on the morning of the third day; mumbling about his aching head.

"Naruto, you should not waste chakra as such," lightly scolded Sakura.

'_At least I actually do some work, you fucking whore,'_ was the first thought in Naruto's mind. "At least we won," he said with a smile.

"How would you know we won, dobe, you were already unconscious?"

"Because we're all alive," replied Naruto calmly. '_No use getting angry at the bastard, it would only make my headache worse.'_ Naruto ate his breakfast in bed and fell asleep for another six hours.

When he woke up again, his headache was gone and he could easily get up and stroll around the house. He found out that Sasuke had gone out to train, with Sakura in tow and that Kakashi was guarding Tazuna on the bridge.

"**You should go train too."**

'_Oh come on, I just woke up from chakra exhaustion,'_ whined Naruto.

"**Exactly, if you had trained more **_**before**_**, then your body would have handled my chakra better and you wouldn't have suffered from chakra exhaustion,"** she reasoned in a tone that allowed for no argument. "**From now on, ninety percent of your training will be physically based and the rest will be to catch up your Suiton to your Doton."**

'_But I don't have Supremacy in Suiton.'_

"**Then you need to **_**get**_** Supremacy in Suiton." **Naruto grumbled and cursed, while the fox just smiled. "**Cursing at **_**me **_**won't make the training on **_**you **_**any easier,"** she taunted.

Naruto grabbed a quick lunch and went out for run. He didn't return until after nightfall, when they were all having dinner.

"Naruto, you know you shouldn't push yourself too much after just recovering," suggested Kakashi.

"I'm not, I just went for a light run," explain the blonde.

"Inari tells me that you left over four hours ago."

"Yeah, that sounds about right," confirmed Naruto.

"You went out of four hours run when you had just woke up after two and a half days?" shouted Sakura. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I'm too weak," said Naruto harshly. "That's what's wrong with me."

"But you managed to…"

Naruto cut her off, "Managed to kill Zabuza? Yeah, but then Gatou's army would have killed me. I need to train, so that I can raise my limits and not pass out on a still _active_ battle field!" Naruto finished his dinner and turned to leave. "I'm turning in for the night. Don't want to over exercise my body, after all."

They continued their dinner in silence after Naruto had left.

"What is wrong with him?" finally asked Sakura.

"Don't worry, he is just having a difficult time after his first kill," assumed Kakashi. "It happens to everyone." Kakashi was pretty sure that Naruto realized that it wasn't he who had killed Zabuza, and that that was probably why he was so frustrated. '_He feels weak because he could not hold the demon in,'_ thought Kakashi. '_I still need to talk to him about that technique he did.'_ Kakashi decided not to think about it anymore and instead focused on explaining the concept of water walking to Sasuke.

The next day, Kakashi had sent Sasuke to guard Tazuna, while he trained Sakura to water walk. Once he had explained the basic concept and showed her how to do it, he went to talk with Naruto.

"Naruto, could I have a word with you?" Kakashi had caught him right before he could leave for his morning exercises.

'_He wants to ask about the bridge incident, that much is obvious,'_ concluded Naruto. '_But is it better to talk to him here or in the forest?'_ If they talked here, Kakashi couldn't say much about the Kyuubi. Naruto wondered if he would need to use that topic to steer away from the jutsu conversation.

"Alright sure, care to join me on my run?" offered Naruto. Kakashi agreed and they set off. "So, what did you want to talk about?" asked Naruto once Tazuna's house was out of sight.

"I'm interested in that jutsu that you used on Gatou," Kakashi got straight to the point.

"Oh that," Naruto laughed. "I found a scroll for that thing while carrying out a prank on the Hokage. At the time I just thought it'd be funny if I took that too." Naruto answered as light-heartedly as he could.

"And the Hokage never asked you about the scroll?" questioned Kakashi.

"Nope," quickly answered Naruto. "Maybe it wasn't his."

"And is that what you had been practicing last week when you kept going off alone?"

'_Thank you sensei, for that wonderful excuse,'_ Naruto smiled. "Yeah, it paid of, huh?"

"Why didn't you tell anyone else about it?" wondered Kakashi. "You could have taught it to Sasuke and Sakura too."

"And have that bastard Sasuke steal it from me!?" yelled Naruto. "No thanks!"

"You're a team, you're supposed to share," reasoned Kakashi.

"Oh, then teach me that fire jutsu that Sasuke does," he countered.

"Ah… sure, sure. After this mission is over," negotiated Kakashi. There was a more important topic he had to discuss. "Naruto, I also wanted to talk about the Kyuubi."

This made Naruto stop in mid-step, "What is it?" the boy asked cautiously.

"I just want you to know that it's not your fault that Zabuza died," said Kakashi.

"How do you figure that? I killed him!" shouted Naruto.

"I felt the charka that surrounded you when you did so and it was the fox's," reasoned Kakashi. "You don't have to feel guilty for Zabuza's death."

Naruto looked down at the ground. "Unlike you, I could see it happening through my own eyes," he said sadly. He suddenly looked up at Kakashi with very sad and at the same time angry eyes, "Don't say it like it's some distant event that doesn't concern my life at all!" Naruto ran off.

"Naruto… I… didn't mean it like that…" said Kakashi slowly, but didn't chase after the boy.

Naruto continued to be a recluse for the next five days, using that fall out with Kakashi as an excuse to stay away from his team. He did, however, show up for Haku and Zabuza burial; if only to mutter a couple words and leave again.

The bridge was completed a month later and team seven was free to return back to Konoha. Goodbyes were said and the four shinobi departed from the Wave Country. They arrived back in Konoha the next day. Kakashi disappeared instantly and Naruto also quickly walked away, not being able to tolerate Sakura anymore.

For the next couple weeks, team seven's missions returned to their normal D-Ranked level. This of course pissed off both Naruto and Sasuke, but only one of them chose to express so vocally.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, how come all our missions lately have been so boring?" asked Naruto. "I want something better to put my skills to use."

Kakashi just brushed him off, "Yea, I knew you were going to say that."

Of course, Naruto had started sending clones in his place as soon as he figured out that the Hokage wasn't going to give them any good missions again. Meanwhile the real Naruto was building up his physical strength. The Kyuubi was now pushing the boy to his limits everyday. She did have to give him a bit more extra chakra, so that he could recover faster, but it was well worth it.

Today was actually the only day of the week when Naruto would go and meet with his team. He figured that as long as he showed up once a week, his lazy teacher wouldn't bitch at him for not being present.

"Ok, that's it for today," announced Kakashi and jumped away.

Naruto watched as Sakura was harshly rejected by the Uchiha, before he strolled away, hoping to have enough time to get a good workout. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the two people standing in front of him, until he bumped into one of them.

"Sorry about that," he mumbled and turned to walk off.

"That hurt, you damn brat!" said the stranger, as he grabbed Naruto by the collar.

Naruto looked up and saw a completely black-clothed man, with purple face-paint, some sort of wrapped up package on his back, and a Hidden Sand forehead protector. "Hey, you're a guest here," Naruto said coldly. "Act like it."

"Why you little insolent brat!"

"Hey, don't do this," his companion spoke up. "We'll get yelled at later."

'_She's obviously the smarter of the two,'_ thought Naruto.

"Damn fat-ass, let me go," Naruto said in a very calm, but menacing tone.

'_He sounds like Gaara,'_ frowned Kankuro. '_Nah, must be my paranoia acting up.'_

"Let's play a little before the boss comes," said Kankuro as he threw Naruto into the nearby fence.

However, while in the air, Naruto twisted around and landed with his feet sticking onto the fence. Naruto looked up the guy in front of him and smirked. He jumped off the fence with such speed that neither Sand shinobi could follow him. Naruto reappeared right in front of Kankuro and punched him square in the face, sending the Sand-nin tumbling along the street.

Kankuro quickly stood up and unbound the package on his back.

"You're going to use Karasu?" questioned his companion.

"Kankuro, stop it!" commanded a voice from the nearest tree. "You're an embarrassment to our village."

"G-G-Gaara," stuttered Kankuro, faking a smile.

Naruto calmly looked up into the tree to find a boy standing upside down with a very large gourd strapped to his back. '_What is it with Sand-nin and strapping things to their back? The girl's fan I can understand.'_

"Losing yourself in a fight, how pathetic. Why do you think we came to the Leaf Village?" interrogated Gaara.

"Listen Gaara, he started it…" he was cut off.

"Shut up, I'll kill you!" Kankuro shook and started babbling out apologies.

'_Very well directed killer intent,'_ praised Naruto. '_And he's completely serious. Very good for his age.'_

"Sorry to you," said Gaara. His eyes locked with Naruto for a moment, before he teleported using sand. '_Being able to move that fast and leaving Kankuro powerless; he's good,' _thought the Sand shinobi.

'_His eyes are like mine,'_ Naruto grew serious. '_And he somehow feels weird…'_

"What's your name?" asked Naruto.

The whole Sand team turned around, "Who me?" asked the guy with the face paint.

"No, the one with the gourd."

Gaara looked back and his eyes locked with Naruto's again. "Gaara of the Desert," he said without even blinking. "I'm also interested in your name," it was more of a command than a question.

Naruto didn't break eye contact. "Uzumaki Naruto." They stared at each other for a moment.

Gaara had already tried to scare Naruto away with his killer intent, but it didn't seem to affect the Leaf shinobi at all. Gaara then turned around and motioned his team to leave.

'_They are obviously here for the Chuunin Exam,'_ concluded Naruto. '_I wonder if Kakashi will nominate us?'_ The prospect of meeting and fighting Gaara in the exam was intriguing, to say the least.

"**Hey brat, who's lingering killer intent is that?"** asked the Kyuubi in a semi-angry tone.

'_Lingering, you say?'_ Naruto considered it and did in fact notice that there were minute traces of it in the surroundings. '_It was some boy, Gaara of the Desert he said his name was.'_

"**The Desert you say…"** the Kyuubi started contemplating.

'_What is it, Kyu?'_

"**I'm sure you must have noticed that the boy's aura was slightly familiar, maybe?"**

'_Yes, as a matter of fact, I did.'_

"**Well, I'll need more proof to finalize my hypothesis, but I'm fairly sure that you just met the container of Shukaku,"** she explained. Naruto's eyes widened. "**That maybe interesting and all, but I have more pressing issues right now. Like why you aren't at the training grounds?"** she seethed. Naruto literally jumped and ran.

The next morning, team seven was waiting on the bridge again. Naruto had been hoping all day that Kakashi would nominate them for the Chuunin Exam. Hence, he decided to come in person today. He did, of course, sleep in an extra hour so that the wait wasn't quite so agonizing.

"Morning people!" Kakashi announced his presence. "Today, I got lost on the road of life." Naruto didn't even bother looking up; he was just plain out tired of his teacher's excuses. "This may be sudden, but I've nominated you guys for the Chuunin Selection Exam."

"Kakashi-sensei, what is the Chuunin Selection Exam?" asked Sakura.

'_Why does she not know anything important?'_ wondered Naruto. '_If I ask her about some irrelevant war she would probably give me all the details, but who the hell cares about that stuff?'_ Naruto waited patiently while Kakashi explained it. Naruto almost ripped the application when grabbing it from jounin once he had finished explaining. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei!" he yelled.

"Though this is just a nomination," explained Kakashi. "Whether to take the exam is up to each of you. Those who wish to take it should sign those papers and turn them in at room 301 by four in the afternoon tomorrow." With that the copy ninja was gone.

'_Even if he says that… the Chuunin Exam must be taken as a team, so if one of us chooses not to go, then that would instantly disqualify the rest.'_ Naruto knew that Sakura was having doubts. '_She better show up or I will make sure that she doesn't live to see the next Chuunin Exam.'_

* * *

Though don't hope for anything this weekend. I've got a rave to go to friday night, then my friends' throwing an end of school (for them) party saturday night... so Sunday, I'll be lucky not to wake up with a head-spliting headache.

Chapter 5: Chuunin Exam, Gaara, and a glimpse of the future...


	5. Arrogant Failure

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Thank you to all my reviewers!

"blah" speech  
"_blah_" thoughts  
"**blah**" Kyuubi's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Kyuubi's thoughts

Donut-Nin - The Kage Bunshin idea is very close to what I have planned. Sorry, but I might just have to bore you with the same old pre-lim matches; I'll of course skip the really stupid ones -cough-Sakura vs. Ino-cough-. Programming, huh? -nod nod- Know how you feel.

Narugami Kiyou - Kill Sakura? Already? No... her death has alredy been planned.

**As of 9/23/08**: Added comic relief.

* * *

Chapter 5 – Arrogant Failure

The day of the Chuunin Selection Exam came too quickly for some and not quickly enough for others. Sakura barely got any sleep, trying to decide whether or not to participate in the exam. Naruto and Sasuke, on the other hand, couldn't wait to test their strength.

Naruto approached the ninja academy and noticed that both his teammates were waiting for him. '_So Sakura decided to take the test,'_ Naruto pouted somewhat. '_I was actually looking forward to killing her.'_ Naruto said good morning to both, taking note of Sakura's lack of energy. '_She's scared.'_

Team seven proceeded inside to find a large group of genin blocking the second floor staircase. Making their way through the crowd, team seven saw a boy in a green jumpsuit be pushed down to the floor by a couple of chuunin that were masking themselves in genjutsu.

"Please let us through," said the boy's teammate. She was promptly smacked down as well.

'_Pathetic,'_ frowned Naruto. '_Can't these idiots count? We are on the _second_ floor.'_ He sighed and motioned for his team to continue up the stairs.

"You will let me pass through, and also remove this genjutsu," said Sasuke. "I'm going to the third floor." There were murmurings in the crowd, it seemed that no one had noticed the genjutsu except team seven.

"So you noticed," said one the guys blocking the door.

"Sakura, you must have noticed too, right?" asked Sasuke arrogantly. "Your analytical ability and genjutsu know-how is the most improved on our team."

'_Sasuke-kun complimented me,'_ smiled Sakura. '_Thank you.'_

"Of course, I noticed a while ago," she answered proudly. "Since this is the second floor."

"Not bad, but all you did was see through it," said the chuunin in disguise and attacked Sasuke. However, the boy in the green jumpsuit stopped their kicks with his bare hands.

'_He's fast,'_ thought Naruto. '_He was able to see both kicks and slide in between them.'_

"What happened to the plan?" asked a white-eyed boy. "You're the one who said we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves."

'_So he and his team, were faking before,'_ deduced Naruto. '_Good strategy, I was hoping Sasuke would be smart enough to utilize it too.'_

"Well," the green-clad boy walked over to Sakura. "Hi! My name is Rock Lee, and yours is Sakura," he said cheerfully. "Let's go out together! I'll protect you until I die!"

Naruto barely managed to hold back an exasperated sigh, '_What an idiot!'_

"No way," said Sakura slowly. "You're lame." Lee hung his head dejectedly.

"Hey you, what's your name?" asked the white-eyed boy.

"When you want to learn someone's name, you should give yours first," said Sasuke.

The white-eyed boy frowned, "You're a rookie, right? How old are you?"

"I don't have to answer your questions," Sasuke turned around and started walking away. '_Man… there's a bunch of monsters here,'_ he thought.

"Naruto, Sasuke-kun, let's go!" Sakura quickly pulled her teammates away.

"Come on Lee, what are you doing?" asked the girl on his team.

"You guys go ahead, I need to test something out," Lee followed team seven. "Hey you, with the dark eyes, will you fight me right here?"

"A fight? Right now?" asked Sasuke, confused.

"Yes," Lee jumped down from the balcony. "My name is Rock Lee. When you want to know a person's name you introduce yourself first, right?"

"Uchiha Sasuke," was the calm response. "So? What of it?

"I want to test my techniques against the offspring of the genius clan. Plus," Lee looked over at Sakura and started blowing kisses her way.

Naruto just leaned on a post and watched the idiocy unfold, wondering if all Leaf shinobi were that stupid. Unlike Sasuke, Naruto knew that Lee had not used chakra when catching Sasuke's kick, because of that, Naruto knew that Sasuke would not be able to beat Lee. '_Well, the Uchiha deserves a good beating anyway.'_

"Challenging me knowing the Uchiha name. Frankly you are a fool," said Sasuke arrogantly. "You're about to learn what this name means thick-brows."

Sasuke charged straight at the green-clad genin. The Uchiha punched, but Lee evaded and went to kick Sasuke in the head. Sasuke ducked, but instantly saw another kick coming his way. He knew he couldn't dodge, so he opted to block. However, Lee quickly slipped through the Uchiha's defenses and kicked him in the face sending him flying backwards.

Sasuke instantly assumed that that move was either ninjutsu or genjutsu. "Fine, this gives me a chance to practice it," said the Uchiha and activated his Sharingan.

Sakura was amazed; she obviously didn't know what the Uchiha clan was famous for. Naruto kept watching the battle, already knowing the outcome, but still enjoying being able to perfectly distinguish Lee's moves. '_He's fast, but he's not _that_ fast.'_ Naruto watched as Sakura was getting giddy, thinking that Sasuke had absolutely no chance of losing now.

Rock Lee was simply standing in his normal stance, his left arm behind his back and his right arm out in front of him, bent at a ninety degree angle, as if beckoning his opponent to attack. As soon as Sasuke was within striking distance, Lee disappeared causing the Uchiha to hesitate. Lee reappeared right below Sasuke and kicked him in the chin, sending him flying through the air.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, '_These are high-level taijutsu techniques. I'd have to go all out with ninjutsu and genjutsu to be able to beat him.'_

"My techniques are neither ninjutsu nor genjutsu," announced Lee. "Shadow Leaf Dance," Lee appeared right below Sasuke. "My techniques are simply taijutsu, Sasuke-kun." Naruto nodded in understanding. "They say that the Sharingan has the ability to reveal all types of nin, gen, and tai-jutsu. It is true that by reading ninjutsu and genjutsu, which need chakra to be raised and seals to be performed, you get an advantage through the Sharingan. However, taijutsu is a little different, even if you can read my movements with your eyes, your body is not fast enough to react to my taijutsu."

'_Mhm,'_ agreed Naruto. '_That and Sasuke doesn't have the full Sharingan.'_ Naruto was suddenly aware of another presence on the far side of the room. He saw Lee start to unwrap his bandages, but before he could do anything with them they were pinned to the wall with a pinwheel.

"That's enough Lee!" yelled a voice from the far side of the room.

Naruto turned his head to find a turtle. '_A summoning… a jounin has joined us,'_ thought Naruto. Lee was pinned to the wall, causing his technique to fail and Sakura made it in time to catch Sasuke before he hit the floor.

"So you were watching," said Lee guiltily.

"That technique is forbidden!" the turtle continued lecturing.

"I'm sorry, I just… but I wasn't planning on using the other one," said Lee trying alleviate some of the tension.

'_Where's the jounin?'_ Naruto kept trying to locale the jounin's chakra signature, while not giving away his own. He ignored the turtle as it continued lecturing the boy about showing off special techniques.

"Are you prepared to pay!?" asked the turtle; Lee nodded. "Then here comes Gai-sensei!"

A cloud of smoke erupted on top of the turtle and another guy in a green jumpsuit appeared that looked exactly like Lee except older. "You guys are the epitome of adolescence!" he yelled as his greeting.

Naruto was at a loss for words, along with the rest of his team. Super thick and super faggy, being the only things that came to mind. The jounin then motioned Lee to come near him, and then promptly punched him in the far wall. '_He beats the crap out of his student, then they both cry and hug like…like…'_ Naruto didn't really know what. All he knew was that they needed to leave while those two were distracted. "Guys, lets leave," offered Naruto, his teammate slowly nodded and started up the stairs.

Gai took a break from lecturing Lee, and noticed the other kids were Kakashi's team, '_My eternal rival!'_ thought Gai. "Hey you guys, how's Kakashi doing?" he asked.

'_Damn it, we were caught!'_ cursed Naruto.

"You know him?" asked Sakura politely.

"Know him… hehe…" Gai suddenly disappeared. Naruto's senses instantly went on overdrive and he jumped forward into a fighting stance at the same time that Gai appeared right behind them. "People refer to us as 'eternal rival'," announced the weird jounin. He instantly noticed that Naruto had jumped away, '_This boy, how did he know?'_ wondered Gai.

Naruto cursed as he slowly walked back to join his team, he noticed the looks that everyone was giving him. He really hadn't meant to attract that much attention to himself. Gai made a note to ask Kakashi about it, but skipped forward to brag about how he was better than Kakashi. '_He's faster, I'll give him that,'_ thought Naruto. '_But I wonder how a well developed and trained Sharingan would do against him?'_

"You guys and Lee should head over to the classroom," ordered Gai and threw a kunai to knock out the pinwheel holding Lee's bandage.

"Sasuke, I lied before," confessed Lee. "The strongest Leaf genin is on my team, and I entered this to defeat him, but you are also one of my targets. Be prepared during the examination!" cried Lee as he jumped up to the railing and walked away.

Sasuke shook in anger, "Next time, I'll definitely beat him."

"You saw his hand too, didn't you?" asked Naruto. "That thick-brows guy must have trained really hard, everyday, more than you. That's all it is."

Sasuke smirked, "This is getting fun."

"Yup!" agreed Naruto and Sakura.

The team made their way to room 301 and noticed that Kakashi was waiting for them in front of the door. "Oh, so Sakura came too. Now we can properly take the exam."

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"The truth is that this test can only be taken by teams of three," explained Kakashi.

"Something you neglected to mention," said Naruto off-handedly.

"I'm surprised you knew," said Kakashi.

Naruto smirked, "It's amazing how much you can learn while sneaking around the ANBU headquarters to put laxatives in everyone's drinks."

"You did that!?" Kakashi practically yelled. "Do you know how many people want to kill you!?"

"I think it's easier to count how many people don't want to kill me," replied Naruto.

Kakashi simply shook his head before continuing with the previous conversation, "If I had told you the truth then you or Sasuke would have pressured Sakura to take the exam, even if she didn't want to."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura walked in through the double doors to be greeted by several hundred genin sitting in the large lecture hall.

"Whoa!" Naruto and Sakura said at the same time.

'_What numbers… they are all taking the exam?'_ thought Sakura. '_They all look so strong.'_

Suddenly a loud, "Sasuke-kun!" pierced the silence as Ino leapt onto Sasuke's back saying how she missed him. Ino and Sakura instantly got into an argument about how Sasuke 'belonged' to.

"So you guys are taking this stupid test too?" asked Shikamaru calmly.

"Yahoo! I found you!" said a boy with a dog on his head.

'_Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba,'_ thought Naruto. '_The people that used to sneak out of Iruka's classes with me.'_

"Geez, you guys too," lazily said Shikamaru. "Seems like all of this year's nine rookies are taking the exam."

'_Of course, most are from famous bloodlines, I'm sure that had something to do with it,'_ thought Naruto. "You seem confident Kiba."

"We did a lot of training and won't lose to the likes of _you_," he said quickly. The blonde snorted in reply.

"Hey, you guys should be quieter," a voice said.

Naruto turned to see an older Leaf shinobi with gray hair and glasses. The boy walked over to them, "You guys are rookies just out of the academy, right?" he asked. "Screaming like school girls… geez." Naruto agreed with him, but still didn't trust him; there was just something off about him. "This isn't a picnic, you know."

"Who do you think you are?" asked Sasuke smugly.

"I'm Kabuto," replied the older boy. "But instead of that look behind you." Sakura turned around and adopted a shocked look. "Those guys are from the Hidden Rain, they have short tempers. Everyone is nervous about the exam, calm down before you cause a scene."

Naruto knew that Kabuto's words held truth in them, but the older shinobi was still frustrating him on some deep level. '_What the hell is going on? It's as if all my primal instincts are screaming "kill him!"'_

"**That's because they are,"** explained the Kyuubi. "_**My**_** instincts are screaming at you to kill him, because he smells like a snake… and I **_**HATE**_** snakes," **the demon snarled and growled.

'_You know that I can't just maul him, in front of everyone, for that?'_

"**Yeah, yeah… but watch him carefully,"** suggested the Kyuubi. "**Maybe even find a way to use your enemy."**

Naruto nodded, he definitely wouldn't lower his guard around this Kabuto. He sensed the older boy using a chakra-suppression technique. The weird part about this was that his chakra levels kept fluctuating. '_He's probably trying to allow some chakra through, so that the examiners don't think it strange,'_ presumed Naruto. '_But the percentage that he's choosing to show is not stable enough, and so he can't maintain it properly.'_

Naruto remember his own lessons about chakra suppression. The Kyuubi has strictly instructed him that in the beginning he should either suppress everything or nothing, because suppressing percentages was several degrees harder. The problem lies in the fact that in order to suppress chakra properly, you have to maintain the suppression percentage the same. If you don't, a well-trained shinobi will notice the fluctuations. Then, you have to consider the use of chakra and the re-calculation of percentages based on chakra consumed. But that was much more advanced stuff, that wasn't really used in serious battles.

When you suppress chakra, you alter its flow. You change how much flows, and most important, how spread out it is over the pathways. Normally chakra flows through a pathway like water through a tube, taking up the full volume of the tube. However, when chakra is suppressed, you often thin out the chakra line and make it stick to the innermost wall, so that to other people the chakra becomes distant and thus giving the illusion that the chakra reserve is smaller. Now the quantity flowing through the tube and the volume through which you are allowing the chakra to flow, are proportional. This proportion is different for each person, but must be maintained if the chakra is to be suppressed successfully.

If this proportion isn't preserved, the chakra starts to fluctuate. First, the amount going through increases or decreases, then, the volume increases or decreases. This is a natural occurrence, and there is no simple way to deal with it. Hence, most shinobi just tend to avoid it altogether. Kabuto had obviously calculated how much chakra a genin of his age should have and adjusted his real chakra, without thinking of the consequences, and now he was paying for it.

Naruto refocused on the much older genin, who was showing them nin-info cards. "They are basically cards that have info burned on to them with chakra," he explained. "I have four years worth of info here, on over two hundred cards." He then showed them a chart with the number of people taking the exam and the breakdown of what country they are from.

"Do you have cards with information about individuals?" asked Sasuke.

"Of course, the info isn't perfect, but I do have it," replied Kabuto. "Who would you like to see?"

"Rock Lee from the Leaf," said Sasuke.

"Gaara from the Hidden Sand," requested Naruto. Everyone stared at Naruto, surprised that he knew a foreign shinobi.

"First, Rock Lee: he's a year older than you guys. Mission history: 20 D-Rank, and 12 C-Rank completed. His teacher is Gai, he excels in taijutsu, and the rest is nothing impressive," read off Kabuto. "His team did not attend the exam last year, so, like for you guys, this is his first time."

"Next is, Gaara of the Desert. Mission history: 8 C-Rank and 1 B-Rank completed. He's a new comer from a foreign country, so I don't have much info. However, it seems that he returned from all his missions without a scratch." The last fact startled everyone.

"Exactly how do you know this guy?" asked Sakura.

"I ran into him a few days ago," explained Naruto.

"**If he is Shukaku's container, then that is not unlikely,"** commented the Kyuubi with only slight amusement.

'_How will we know?'_ wondered Naruto.

"**I will have to see him fight."**

"There are many outstanding genin from the Hidden Villages here to take the exam," said Kabuto. "Well, the Hidden Sound is a newly created village so there isn't much info, but the rest of the Hidden Villages are filled with talented youngsters."

"So basically all the people here are…" Sakura started.

"Yup! Like Lee and Gaara, they are the top elite genin from the various countries," replied Kabuto.

'_This is going to be fun!'_ thought Naruto. His attention suddenly focused in on the uncertain aura of his female teammate, '_She's worried,'_ Naruto paused. '_About me? Oh, I see… I'm acting too out of character; not cheerful enough. What should I say?'_

"Hey Naruto, don't get so down," just as Sakura reached to put her hand on his shoulder Naruto shouted.

"Who's down?" the blonde muttered before adding in a louder voice that he was more excited than anything else.

Within the crowd three shinobi were carefully observing the Leaf-nin, "The Hidden Sound is a minor village, eh?" said one of the Sound-nin. "Let's play with them a little bit."

"Good idea, let's help him add to his data that Hidden Sound shinobi can be quite vicious."

The Sound-nin quickly moved through the crowd and attacked Kabuto. The Leaf genin dodged the thrown kunai, but was instantly attacked by a guy whose head was completely covered in bandages, except for his left eye. Kabuto dodged the punch, but his glasses still shattered and he was on the ground throwing up.

"But he dodged it?" wondered Sasuke.

"It probably grazed his nose," offered Shikamaru.

"Lee, how about that attack?" asked Neji.

"No problem in seeing the speed, there must be some trick."

'_That thing on his arm,'_ thought Naruto. '_He made a hand seal before punching Kabuto, meaning that that thing must have emitted a form of chakra and broke the glasses. But that doesn't explain why he threw up.'_

"**That device on his arm emits sound,"** informed the Kyuubi.

'_What?'_

"**From what I can gather it was two different sound waves. The first one on a frequency to break the glasses and the second on a frequency to mess with his digestive track."**

'_Umm… Kyuubi, I'm not a medic-nin…'_ slowly said Naruto.

The fox demon sighed. "**I'll explain later."**

Suddenly a large cloud of smoke filled the room. "Quiet down you worthless bastards!" yelled a rather angry voice.

Out of the smoke emerged the jounin examiner and his helpers. "Thanks for waiting! I'm Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the Chuunin Selection Exam's first test." Ibiki had several scars across his face and radiated enough killer intent to make almost everyone scared of him. "The Hidden Sound guys stop doing as you please before the exam or I'll fail you!"

"I apologize, this is our first time and we got carried away," one of them responded.

"Shut up! There will be no fighting without the permission of the examiner. Even if permission is granted, killing your opponent will not be tolerated. Those pigs that disobey me will be failed immediately. Do I make myself clear?" he yelled.

Naruto noticed that even some of the chuunin examiners were unnerved by Ibiki's aura. '_Humph, regular human killer intent.'_

"We will now start the first test, instead of your current seating arrangements you will pick one of these tabs and sit in an assigned seat," explained the examiner.

Once they were seated Ibiki explained the rules of the test, making sure to say that there was no cheating allowed, yet if they were caught cheating two points would be subtracted from their total of ten. "If one person fails, then the entire team will fail. You have one hour, BEGIN!" all the genin quickly turned their papers over and began reading the questions.

'_What the hell?'_ thought Naruto as he looked through the questions. '_I can't answer even half of these. Hey Kyu, could you help me out here?'_

"**I could, but being able to ask your demonic entity is not the point of this examination,"** she laughed as Naruto frowned. "**Think about it, kiddo."**

Naruto grumbled, but decided to evaluate his current situation. He already had ten points, but would lose one for every question he got wrong. That wasn't helping. He would also lose two points for cheating. Now that was weird, usually he would be automatically failed for cheating. Naruto activated his advanced hearing, hoping to hear at least someone writing down answers. He heard three people that were continuously writing and several that were on-and-off. He deactivated the ability quickly, since he could only hold it for about half a minute.

'_Weird… you'd think that those three people would stop to think about the question longer,'_ Naruto's eyes widened. '_Unless, they already knew the answers.'_ Naruto put his hands into the chakra-channeling seal and closed his eyes in concentration. He also briefly activated his advanced hearing again. '_The ones with the strongest charka signatures are also the ones who know all the answers. So they _want_ us to cheat,_" realized Naruto.

"**Good job, boy, and you didn't even need my help,"** congratulated the Kyuubi. "**For that, I'll teach you a Demonic Jutsu."** Naruto smiled happily. "**Demonic: Mind Steal no Jutsu. An invisible tendril of chakra makes its way to the enemy and penetrates him/her at the base of the skull. That person's thoughts are then transferred temporarily into your mind. Afterwards you do with them as you please; put them back or simply make them dissipate."**

Naruto listened in awe; Demonic power was really not something humans could stand against.

"**However, there is a drawback,"** emphasized the Kyuubi. "**Your mind will need to straighten itself out after you cancel the jutsu. So always plan to rest for at least twenty minutes after using this jutsu."**

Naruto considered it to be a fair exchange. Twenty minutes for finding out all of the enemies plans, was a pretty sweet deal. Of course, this jutsu could only be used if there was someone to protect him during those twenty minutes, but still a good jutsu. '_Well may as well do it so that I have enough time to nap before the end of the test.'_

Naruto slowly did the hand seals that the Kyuubi flashed in his mind and locked on to the chakra signature of one the people that knew the answers. "Demonic: Mind Steal no Jutsu," he mumbled softly. Immediately half of his mind felt like it was floating, he figure this to be the tendril of chakra, and directed it to the person he had locked on to. As soon as the chakra tendril hit the man's head, he instantly froze and Naruto was hit by an onslaught of images and mental pressure.

"**I'll help you out the first time,"** she offered and immediately the pressure alleviated and Naruto clearly saw all the answers. He was quick to jot them down and release the connection, knowing that the Kyuubi was suffering with the mental pressure instead of him.

'_Done,'_ he announced and released the jutsu. Immediately afterwards his head collapsed on the desk and he was fast asleep.

'_What the hell happened to the dobe?'_ wondered Sasuke as he saw his teammate fall asleep in the middle of the exam. '_He seemed to have written down all the answers before falling asleep though,'_ Sasuke scowled. '_What was that jutsu he used?'_

Neji was thinking along the same lines. He had had his Byakugan activated when Naruto did the jutsu and literally saw the red, mind you, chakra leak out from Naruto and hit another guy's head. '_That was one of the guys who has all the answers,'_ Neji figured that Naruto must now have all the answers and concentrated on copying them.

Twenty minutes went by like a breeze, most of the genin had already figure out that they needed to cheat and were doing so. Some successfully and others not so, as Naruto saw when a kunai whizzed past him and into the test of the guy behind him.

"**Pay attention to that Sand brat!"** yelled the Kyuubi.

'_What?'_ Naruto immediately looked in Gaara's direction and saw something amazing. Gaara had just created an eye out of pure sand. '_He can actually see using his sand?'_ wondered Naruto.

Kyuubi was laughing, "**I was right, that's definitely Shukaku. What you're seeing right now is known as Shukaku's Eye. It is one of the ways Shukaku has twisted his Doton Supremacy**."

'_So that boy also has Doton Supremacy, like me,'_ thought Naruto getting slightly unnerved. '_If he has awakened his second Supremacy, I won't be able to beat him.'_

"**Unlikely, Shukaku was always stupid when it came to sharing or even teaching others about his powers,"** she explained calmly. "**Most likely that boy uses his Doton Supremacy passively. Meaning as much as Shukaku lets him, which I would guess to be just the control over sand. That boy probably has no idea what a Supremacy is, much less possess any ability to counter your own, if the need should arise."**

'_But why would Shukaku do such a thing, it only makes him weaker in the end?'_

"**Yes, but there are probably complications that we don't know about yet,"** the fox paused. "**Have him meet you in the next test."**

'_What?'_ Naruto yelled inside his mind. '_To what purpose? And how do you know that the next test is going to be open enough so that I could meet him in private?'_

"**For the latter part, it's my instincts,"** growled Kyuubi. "**I want to talk to Shukaku… As you may have guessed, he and I are long standing enemies, so it would do well to show him that I have made my container stronger than his,"** she chuckled darkly. "**First, seek to rile him up a little bit, maybe even make him scared of you. Then proceed to arrange the meeting, he'll be wary, but his curiosity will get the better of him and he **_**will**_** come."**

"Ok, now we will begin the tenth question!" announced Ibiki, ripping straight through Naruto and Kyuubi's conversation. "But before we get to it, I'd like to go over the additional rules for this question."

'_God damn it! This guy is so annoying with all his rules,'_ Naruto scowled.

"These are the rules of desperation!" Ibiki announced in a dark tone. Naruto sighed, he knew this was just another way to instill even more fear into the already worried genin. "First, for the tenth question you must decided whether you will take it or not."

'_Of course I'll take it, what kind of stupid question is that?'_ Naruto scoffed.

"Choose!?" questioned the blonde girl on the Sand team. "What if we choose not to?"

"Then, your points will be reduced to zero and you'll fail along with your teammates," the girl was promptly shut up by that answer, probably because of her fear of Gaara. "And now, for the second rule: if you choose to take it and then answer incorrectly, that person will lose the right to ever take the Chuunin Selection Exam ever again."

"What kind of stupid rule is that?" yelled Kiba. "There are guys here who have taken the exam before!"

"You guys were unlucky, this year it's my rules," he smirked.

Naruto had had it with all of this, "Bullshit!" he yelled. "You may be able to get the consent of the Hokage to do that to the Leaf genin, but I doubt any other Hidden Village will allow you to keep its genin from ever advancing."

Ibiki turned to look at the boy who had so bravely chose to defy him. '_He has a valid point, but I cannot allow this little one to keep me from weeding out the failures,'_ thought Ibiki. "Unfortunately, the other Kages have already consented to this little rule."

"I simply don't believe you," stated Naruto in a calmly voice. "There is no way you'll get me to quit with such a stupid lie."

Ibiki frowned ever so slightly, the boy was really messing up his plans. "I will still give the more _reasonable_ shinobi a way out, those that aren't confident can choose not to take it and try again next year." The jounin examiner glared at each of the genin with his killer intent activated. "So, those that do not wish to take it, raise your hand. Once your number is confirmed, leave."

Even though Naruto's argument made sense, some people decided to trust the jounin examiner's words more, and raised their hand. However, because of the boy's earlier comments, the number of people leaving was much smaller than Ibiki had anticipated. '_Damn it, that kid made too many stay… oh well.'_

"Good decisions!" he announced. "Now to everyone still remaining, I congratulate you on passing the first test!"

"What do you mean we already pass?" jumped Sakura. "What about the tenth question?"

"There never was such a thing," explained the special jounin. "Or you could say that that was the tenth question."

"So then the previous nine questions were pointless?"

"No, they had already served their purpose, to test your individual information gathering skills," explained Ibiki.

Naruto tuned out the rest of the questions and answers, he had already figured out what this jounin's game was. '_Very smart actually, eliminate the idiots and then eliminate the cowards,'_ Naruto praised their jounin examiner. "Whoa!" Naruto exclaimed when Ibiki showed them the top of his head. '_Burns, screw holes, scars… the after effects of torture.'_

The Kyuubi snickered, "**Obviously, he has only been tortured by humans… if it were demons, those marks would be the least horrible and they would be spread out to cover more than just the top of his head."** Naruto shuddered at some of the images that flashed through the Kyuubi's mind. "**Don't worry, Naruto-**_**kun**_**, in time I will teach you all about torture and interrogation."**

Just then the window right next to Ibiki broke and a large black sphere sailed in to the room. The sphere opened up, with two kunai being lodged into the ceiling, thus spreading out a black banner with white writing. A woman with short purple hair, a white coat, a mesh shirt and pants, and ANBU garb.

"You guys, this is no time for celebrating!" she yelled. "I am the examiner for the second test, Mitarashi Anko, now let's go! Follow me!"

"Bad timing," Ibiki commented.

Anko glanced around the room, "Seventy eight? Ibiki, you left twenty-six teams? The test must have been way too easy this time."

"This time, there are a lot of outstanding ones," he said dryly.

"That's fine, I'll at least cut them in half in the second test," he said with a sly smirk. "I'm getting excited… I'll explain everything once we've changed locations, follow me."

'_Cut us in half!?'_ Sakura was shocked.

All the genin got up and slowly started exiting the classroom. Naruto inconspicuously made his way towards Gaara, until he was basically rubbing shoulders with the Sand-nin. Naruto momentarily leaned closer to Gaara ears and whispered, "Shukaku," and then traversed through the crowd to his own team.

Gaara froze as soon as he heard that name. '_How did that blond kid know about it?'_ he wondered. Gaara narrowed his eyes, '_Uzumaki Naruto, I hope to face you in the upcoming test.'_

Temari and Kankuro seemed to notice Gaara strange behavior, but didn't say anything while the said shinobi was within hearing distance.

"What's the deal between Gaara and that Leaf-nin?" asked Kankuro.

"I don't know," replied Temari. "But ever since we walked out of that room, Gaara's been eyeing him with great interest."

"I hope we meet that guy in the next exam," Kankuro rubbed his hands together. "I still owe him a beating."

Temari shook her head, "That may not be a good idea. If Gaara is actually showing interest in the Leaf-nin, then he must be strong. Strong enough to rival Gaara's power," Kankuro gulped.

After walking through a quarter of the village, the genin finally arrived at their destination. "Welcome to the stage for the second test, practice area 44, also known as "The Forest of Death"" Anko made sure to emphasize the location's nickname. "Soon you'll find out why it's called the Forest of Death."

"Hah! You think that scares me?" laughed Naruto. '_The nickname is actually quite intriguing.'_

"Yeah, you're spirited," she said right before taking out her kunai and throwing it so that it would graze Naruto's cheek. But the blonde's reaction rate was just fast enough to lean his head out of the way and have the kunai miss him. However, Anko was already behind him, "Kids like you are quickly killed," she said calmly.

Anko quickly pulled out another kunai when she felt a presence behind her. "Here's your kunai," said the person behind her and held it out on his extra long tongue.

"Thank you, but don't sneak up on me like that unless you want to die."

"No… it's just that you cut my precious hair, I couldn't help it," was the excuse.

"Looks like we have a lot of bloodthirsty ones in this test, it should be fun," she grinned.

"Now before we start the next test, you must sign these agreement forms," announced the examiner. "There will be deaths in this one and if I don't have you sign these, it will all be my responsibility."

'_Deaths?'_ questioned Sakura with a horrified expression.

'_Finally some real action,'_ Naruto smirked darkly.

"The second test, is a survival test. You will have to survive for five days inside the forest while trying to get a second scroll to complete your collection," Anko explained. "Each team will be given either a Heaven scroll or an Earth scroll, and you will have to get the other one. Once you have both scrolls, just head to the tower in the middle of the forest. Now, I'll talk about what will disqualify you. First, those that don't make it to the tower with both scrolls within the time limit. Second, those who lose a teammate or those who have a teammate killed. Third, you must not look inside the scroll until you make it to the tower."

"What if we do?"

"There will be a surprise for those that disobey the rules," was the simple answer. "Now, go sign the forms and get your scroll. Your gate will be assigned to you. Go there and be ready to start."

All the teams received their scrolls and were ready to head out towards the gates. Naruto again slipped his way towards the Sand team and whispered into Gaara's ear, "Meet me in one hour, and come alone." With that he ran to catch up with his team.

"Gaara, what did that boy say to you?" asked Temari.

"Nothing," was the monotone response.

"It had to be something," said Kankuro.

"It doesn't matter… let's go to our gate."

The gates opened almost as soon as the teams reached them, and the test had officially begun. Team seven ran for about ten minutes before stopping to come up with some sort of plan.

"I'm getting nervous," said Sakura, when they heard a human scream.

"This is nothing Sakura," reassured Naruto. '_I've got twenty minutes to meet up with Gaara.'_

"I've got to take a piss," said Naruto and walked away. He quickly made a Kage Bunshin and leapt off to find the demon carrier. '_Let's see, his gate number was pretty close to mine that means he should be somewhere in this direction,'_ mused Naruto. '_I figure when I get close enough I'll feel him.'_

Gaara's team had abruptly stopped when Gaara told them to halt. "What's going on, Gaara?" asked Kankuro in confusion.

"You two will get another scroll and I'll meet up with you later," he announced and started walking away.

"What the hell?" yelled Kankuro.

"Where are you going?" asked Temari.

"I need to do something," he said without turning around, and then jumped off into the trees.

"It probably has something to do with the blond Leaf-nin," reasoned Temari.

"You think we should follow him?" asked Kankuro.

"No, Gaara can handle himself. Plus we need to get that scroll or he'll be angry," Kankuro shook at the thought of Gaara being angry.

Gaara was drawn to a strong chakra signature that seemed to anger Shukaku, thus making his head hurt. He soon came to a small clearing, on the opposite side of which a blond Leaf-nin was leaning up against a tree.

"I see you made it," Naruto commented. "Right on time too."

"Who are you?"

"You know who I am."

"How do you know about the Shukaku?" asked Gaara slowly.

"Kyuubi told me," Naruto said calmly. Gaara's eyes widened and he clutched his head in pain. "So it is true then, Shukaku and Kyuubi really do hate each other."

Gaara's sand started to slowly gather around his arm, while another portion of the sand made its way toward the Leaf-nin. "You… the Kyuubi… are you just like me?" Gaara struggled against his demon.

"Yes, I am a container for a demon just like you," replied Naruto. "However, your demon is a lot weaker than mine." Naruto felt sand start to wrap around his legs, but he pretended not to notice. In truth he didn't care, he would just activate his Doton Supremacy and Gaara's attack would be rendered useless.

"Mother asks for your blood…" Gaara trailed off.

"Hmm… and here I was thinking that Shukaku was male."

The Kyuubi was rolling in laughter. "**The sand rat is so weak, he must manipulate his container by pretending to be his mother,"** the Kyuubi managed to say through her laughter. Naruto couldn't help but snicker as well.

Gaara raised his hand up as his sand had already covered Naruto up to chest. "What is so funny?" asked Gaara. "You are going to die." Naruto erupted into full-blown laughter at this point. Gaara's head only hurt more and more, the look on his face would make just about any human run away screaming. "It's over, Desert Coffin," said Gaara. However, he noticed that no matter how much he wished it the sand didn't move to wrap itself completely around Naruto. "It doesn't matter," he mumbled. "Desert Graveyard!" he said coldly as he closed his fist. Once again the sand did not move, instead it actually started to fall off of Naruto. "That's impossible," muttered Gaara.

"Oh it is very possible," corrected Naruto. "You see, Kyuubi and Shukaku have one thing in common: they both have a Doton Supremacy. Meaning that both you and I have complete control over that element. In effect, we cancel each other out in that aspect."

Gaara was staring wide-eyed at the scene before him. Naruto was playing with _his_ sand and Gaara could do naught to control it. "H-How? What is this Supremacy?"

Naruto sighed and dropped the sand. "Obviously Shukaku has not taught you anything, and if you don't know what a Supremacy is then you clearly don't posses it," responded Naruto.

Gaara stared at the Leaf shinobi, '_His demon had taught him?'_ he wondered.

"You see, to have Supremacy over an element means that you control every single aspect of it. You can manipulate it as you see fit and no one, apart from another entity that has the same Supremacy, can override your manipulations. From what the Kyuubi tells me, you're only using Shukaku's passive automated defenses, but other than that the demon has given you nothing. While that does make you a strong shinobi, you are not in control… so in the long run, you will meet someone that is faster and/or stronger than you, and you will lose."

Now, of course, Naruto hadn't told Gaara the whole truth about the Supremacies. After all, who would reveal the weaknesses of their technique to complete strangers and likely enemies? The blonde had carefully forgot to mention that even Supremacies had their limitations –even if he hadn't run into them, Naruto trusted Kyuubi's word on this– and the fact that chakra still had to be applied to jutsu you wished to use. Having a certain Supremacy didn't mean you could just do whatever to that element without any effort whatsoever; but such technicalities aren't worth mentioning when trying to scare your enemy.

"Now, I'm gonna go back to my team, and I suggest you do the same," announced Naruto. "Oh, and one last thing… don't cross my path in this test again," warned Naruto. "Or I'll kill you and your team."

Naruto was leaping through the trees, trying to find his team once more, with a very annoyed expression on his face, '_Why the hell did my clone get eaten by a snake?'_ wondered Naruto. '_Out of everything that could happen, it had to be eaten by a snake,'_ Naruto told the clone to Kage Bunshin himself until he tore the snake apart. Suddenly a chill went down his spine, in that instant he clearly heard someone telling him to get another scroll. '_Kyuubi…?'_ he wondered._ 'But that didn't sound like her… maybe it's my own instincts, but instincts aren't supposed to talk…'_ Naruto then remember the Kyuubi also lecturing on following his instincts. '_Trust your gut feeling, huh?'_ Naruto quickly switched directions and doubled back to the Stone-nin team he has passed earlier.

In the distance, a figure dressed in all white disintegrated into white mist particles and was blown away by the wind.

Naruto landed deftly on the ground behind a tree on the edge of a clearing where the Stone-nin were resting. He did a few quick hand seals, activated his Doton Supremacy, and placed his palms on the ground. He instantly felt all the ground beneath and around him; he also knew exactly where his prey was. Naruto made the ground under each of the Stone shinobi to give way and the Stone shinobi, caught unawares, fell into a pit Naruto had prepared for them. The pit was lined with spikes made out of different rocks and minerals.

As soon as the shinobi was mostly submerged in the pit, the spikes lengthened and struck the shinobi. Two loud screams were heard as the Stone shinobi died helplessly. However, the third managed a Kawarimi and found out Naruto's position. He tried to do a Doton Explosion right under Naruto, but found that nothing happened.

"Well, well, so you're the smart one in the group," commented Naruto. "I'll admit it was rather boring killing those two like that, I hope you'll be more of an entertainment."

Naruto attacked the Stone-nin with taijutsu only. His opponent managed to hold his own, but didn't realize that Naruto was just playing with him. When the two broke apart, the Stone ninja was panting heavily, while Naruto hadn't even broken a sweat.

The Stone-nin started to panic, with a shaky hand he reached into his pouch and pulled out a scroll. "H-Here, take it," he begged. "Just let me live."

"Not even spirited enough to avenge your teammates," frowned Naruto. "Pathetic!" Naruto jumped at his enemy at roughly twice his previous speed. The Stone-nin couldn't react in time and was punched hard in the stomach, then instantly kneed in the face, and finally was kicked in the throat. Naruto calmly took out a kunai and stabbed the man in the heart. The Stone-nin's body writhed for a few seconds then all life left him.

"Stone-nin," Naruto laughed. "No challenge whatsoever once you cancel out their ninjutsu abilities." He shook his head and headed out in the direction of team seven. '_My clone was destroyed by that guy with the long tongue, Sasuke probably gave up our scroll.'_ Naruto was quite happy that he had taken that detour and got another scroll. '_What an idiot that Uchiha is, giving away the scroll without even really fighting.'_

Meanwhile, Sasuke was trying his best to defeat his opponent with everything he had, but it still wasn't good enough. Sasuke managed to wrap wire around and send a stream of fire through the wire. However, all that seemed to do was just melt the man's face off.

The man laughed, "To be able to use the Sharingan so well at this age, you truly are a man that carried the Uchiha blood. You really are brothers, though I sense power in your eyes that surpasses Itachi."

"Who the hell are you!?" yelled Sasuke; his brother's name had always triggered a violent reaction.

"My name is Orochimaru," the man introduced himself. "If you want to see me again, then survive and pass this exam." Orochimaru then did a special hand seal and his neck lengthened very quickly. Before the genin even realized it, Orochimaru bit Sasuke's neck. "Sasuke-kun, will seek me, to seek power."

Sasuke fell over in pain, "What the hell did you do to Sasuke-kun!?" screamed Sakura.

"I gave him a going away present," said Orochimaru as he melted into the ground.

Sasuke just kept screaming due to the horrible pain that the Cursed Seal was inflicting on his body. He soon couldn't handle it and passed out.

Sakura had assumed Naruto to be dead and so just took Sasuke to the safest place she could find. She set up traps all around them, just in case and waited for Sasuke to wake up. Sakura barely made it through the night without falling asleep. At daybreak, the Sound team confronted her.

"Wake up Sasuke, we want to fight him," requested the leader of the group.

"What are you talking about?" questioned Sakura. "I know that someone named Orochimaru is pulling the strings from the shadows. What is his purpose?"

The Sound team was clearly shocked. They had simply been ordered to kill Uchiha Sasuke, but did not know that Orochimaru would interfere and get to the Uchiha before them. "That doesn't matter," said black-haired boy. "I'll kill the girl and also kill this Sasuke guy."

"Wait Zaku," said the bandaged up Sound-nin.

"Why should I, Dosu?" asked Zaku.

"You're not very good," he told Sakura. "A recently overturned stone, different color dirt, and grass doesn't grow here. A booby trap is pointless unless it goes unnoticed." Sakura scowled.

The Sound team attacked, but a giant log suddenly appeared in their way when Sakura cut a string right behind her. However the bandaged up Sound-nin activated the device on his right hand and the log shattered. The three Sound shinobi continued toward Sakura. That is until someone yelled, "Leaf Spinning Wind!" and the three attackers were thrown back. Rock Lee appeared in front of Sakura, and challenged the Sound trio.

'_That thick brow guy has some advanced taijutsu, this should be fun,'_ thought the bandaged Sound-nin and ran right at Lee.

Lee suddenly stuck his hand in the ground and pulled out one of the tree roots, using it as a shield against his attacker. "There's some trick to your attacks, right? I've seen them before, so I'm not simply going to dodge," said Lee. '_But at three against one, I'm gonna have to risk it. Time to protect a precious person!'_

Lee undid the bandages around his arms and disappeared from right in front of the Sound-nin. He reappeared and kicked the Sound-nin in the chin sending him flying, just like he had to Sasuke the day before. Lee jumped after Dosu and wrapped the bandages around him, keeping him from getting away. He then changed directions and plummeted with the Sound-nin straight down into the ground, while spinning, at a large speed. "Initial Lotus!" cried Lee, and smashed into the ground.

However, the other Sound-nin, Zaku, managed to save his teammate by creating a sort of wind cushion in the place of impact. "What a terrifying technique," he said. "But now it's my turn." Lee was horrified, his body had not had enough time to recover, since that technique was supposed to incapacitate his opponent.

The Sound-nin attacked, but was thrown back by a swift kick to the stomach. He was sent tumbling back and was caught by his teammate. "Who the hell?" the Sound-nin looked up and saw a blond boy crouched down on the ground facing away from them.

"Naruto!" exclaimed Sakura. "You're alive!"

"Of course I'm alive," muttered Naruto. "What happened to Sasuke?"

Sakura was suddenly reminded of the event of the previous day, "Where the hell were you?" she asked. "We were attacked by that snake guy and you weren't even there!"

"I got side-tracked getting us a scroll," replied Naruto calmly.

"Hey kid, don't get in our way unless you want to die," yelled Zaku.

"Idiot," said Naruto without even turning around. He quickly did several hand seals and pressed his palms to the ground.

'_Shit! A Doton jutsu!'_ thought Dosu as he quickly jumped up and away from the ground right before it exploded. However, his teammates weren't so lucky and were damaged in the attack.

Naruto suddenly fell over, his face twisted in pain as he clutched his upper left arm. '_Shit, god damn it! Why now!?'_ cursed Naruto. The blond had been feeling this pain shortly after his fight with the Stone-nin. Apparently his Suiton Supremacy had activated, but the problem was that it was growing at an insane rate and Naruto's chakra pathways simply couldn't adapt to such changes. '_Thus, I'm restricted to such low level jutsus, because I simply can't control even medium amounts of chakra.'_

"Naruto, what's wrong?" exclaimed Sakura as she moved to examine Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto's eyes narrowed and he pulled himself out of the girl's reach. "Don't touch me," he said coldly. "Plus, we have more important things to worry about."

Dosu moved to attack Naruto with that device on his right arm, but Lee got in the way. Even though he blocked his ears bled. "This arm multiplies small sounds to their ultimate level," explained the Sound-nin. "You could say it's a speaker. But the sound doesn't follow the direction of the arm. I use my chakra to make sure it always attacks my prey."

Lee had been beaten to the ground and Dosu moved in for the kill, but Sakura stopped him by throwing three kunai, causing Dosu to stop his attack and make the sound waves block the projectiles. Sakura didn't stop there and three shuriken. This time Zaku got in the way and blasted the shuriken away with compressed air from the weird holes in his palms. Sakura put up her hands to block the air, and by doing so missed the female Sound-nin's movements to get behind her.

The female grabbed Sakura by her long hair and held her at bay, while telling Zaku to kill Sasuke in front of Sakura's eyes. Naruto was sure that it was all up to him now, since Sakura wasn't getting out of her predicament and Lee was on the ground in a helpless heap. Just as the blond was going to stand up, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura cut her own hair thus setting herself free.

"Kin, kill her!" ordered Zaku.

Just as the female Sound-nin drew four needle, Sakura made the hand seals for Kawarimi and kin hit nothing but a log. Sakura then appeared to the right of Zaku and threw several kunai at him, but he just blocked them with an air blast, to which Sakura once again preformed Kawarimi.

Zaku was getting annoyed, '_Is this all the girl knows?'_ the Sound-nin knew that Sakura would appear from above and so threw several shuriken up at her. However, as soon as he did that he took his eyes off of her, trying to find where she would come from next. Sakura actually got him by the shuriken, but continued down on her path to Zaku. Her opponent realized this too late and was stabbed in the arm with Sakura's kunai when he went to block her.

'_Hey, she actually did something,'_ thought Naruto in mild amusement. '_But why the hell is she biting him? I would understand if she had fangs, but she doesn't. Her best bet would have been to take out another kunai and start stabbing the guy to death. She's gonna get herself killed this way,'_ thought Naruto, as he watched Zaku punch Sakura in the head, repeatedly.

At this time Naruto sensed the presence of three people in the bushes next to Sakura. '_Is my chakra structure that screwed up that I don't even feel three genin no more than twenty yards away?'_ Naruto cursed whatever was happening to him, swearing he would get answers from the Kyuubi when he next slept. '_The three people seem to be Shikamaru's team. I just hope they are here to help,'_ Naruto managed to deduce after closing his eyes and concentrating completely on just the three chakra signatures.

Just as Zaku was going to slice Sakura up with his air technique, the said team jumped out of the bushes and into his way. "Sakura I won't lose to you," declared Ino. "I won't let you look good in front of Sasuke-kun."

"Looks like more Leaf insects have scurried into the open," taunted Dosu.

'_Well, it seems they are all distracted,'_ thought Naruto in relief. Naruto sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes. '_I need to get this chaotic chakra under control.'_ He started his normal meditation procedures only to find that every so often Kyuubi's chakra would be pulled out, without his consent, and it would burn through all his chakra pathways before being soothed by his natural chakra. '_What the hell is going on here?'_ pondered Naruto. '_Also, why does my chakra system feel a bit off?'_ After several minutes Naruto figured that his shoulder hurt every time Kyuubi's chakra was released. '_The only logical explanation is that my Suiton Supremacy activated, but that still doesn't explain the horrible pain.'_ Naruto realized that with his current lack of information, the best he could do was to meditate and try to keep the Kyuubi's chakra contained.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji's plan had failed and they were now just trying to survive. That is when the rest of Lee's team appeared. The arrogant boy with white eyes taunted the Sound-nin, but was genuinely pissed off for what they did to Lee.

Neji surveyed all the present shinobi with his Byakugan activated. '_What the hell is with that blonde's chakra, is seems to be out of control. But not only that, there are weird pathways that shouldn't even exist on the human body… does he have some sort of advanced bloodline?'_ wondered the Hyuga genius. '_The Uchiha also has an abnormal chakra coming out of him.' _

"Heh, stop acting so cool and come down here," said Dosu.

"No, it seems that won't be necessary," Neji closed his eyes.

A sudden whirlwind of chakra rose about the fallen Uchiha. Naruto was instantly snapped out of his meditation. Sakura instinctively turned around and happily said, "You're awake, Sasuke-kun!" before she noticed the dark purple chakra and the black marks all around Sasuke's body.

"Who did that to you Sakura?" he asked.

"Sasuke-kun," she said uncertainly.

"Who is it?" the Uchiha demanded.

"We did it!" Zaku fearlessly proclaimed, only to be chastised by Dosu.

"Sasuke-kun, your body…" Sakura was scared out of her wits.

"Don't worry," he said in an amused tone. "Not only that, but I feel power overflowing from within me. I feel great!"

'_What the hell happened while I wasn't there?'_ Naruto narrowed his eyes. '_His chakra is very strong; to an amateur it might even look demonic, though I'll admit it borders on it. So what the hell is it?'_

Dosu had seen the Cursed Seal before and knew exactly how dangerous it was, but before he could warn his team Zaku had already prepared to attack, "Zaku, no!" he cried.

"Don't worry about this half-dead freak, I'll take out all three of them at the same time," said Zaku proudly. "Ultimate Zankuuha!" he shot out a wind attack that decimated everything in its path. "See, I blew him away."

"Blew who away?" asked a voice right behind him, and before Zaku could even turn he was knocked sideways by Sasuke's hand.

'_That was fast,'_ marveled Zaku. '_And he managed to carry those two at the same time.'_

"Katon: Mythical Fire Flower no Jutsu," said Sasuke and shot half a dozen small fireballs at Zaku. The Sound-nin thought he could blast them away, but was shocked to find that shuriken were hidden inside the flames. Suddenly Sasuke appeared right below him and slid until he was behind him. The Uchiha then grabbed both of Zaku's arms, while putting his foot on Zaku's back and pulled until they both arms snapped.

Sasuke then turned his sights on Dosu. "You're the only one left," he declared. "I hope you let me have more fun."

Naruto couldn't help but smirk at all of this. '_Finally, these sheltered genin will see some death.'_ However, this expectation was sorely ruined when Sakura jumped up and held Sasuke back from killing his opponent. '_Damn it, doesn't she understand that opponents need to be killed so that they don't come back and kill_ _you, because the second time around they know all your moves,'_ Naruto shook his head disappointedly. '_You'd think that after the time with Zabuza she would learn this. Then again, she didn't actually do any of the work, so she doesn't know what it's like to have your enemy be able to predict you.'_

"You are strong, Sasuke-kun," said Dosu. "We cannot defeat you at this time." He held out a scroll as a sort of truce sign. "Here is a gift for you, please let us leave."

Naruto made to get up and kill the weakened Sound-nin, but was almost completely stopped by the terrible pain in his left shoulder.

"Wait!" yelled Sakura. "Who is Orochimaru and what did he do to Sasuke-kun!?" demanded the pink-haired shinobi.

"I don't know," answered Dosu. "We were merely ordered to kill Sasuke-kun."

Once the Sound-nin had left, Shikamaru's team as well as Lee's team came over to help team seven. The girl on Lee's team, Tenten, violently shook the green-clothed shinobi awake and demanded answers from him. Ino instantly went over to Sakura and offered to straighten out her hair. Shikamaru and Chouji came over to Naruto to try and figure out what had happened to him.

"Hey Naruto, you don't look so good," stated Shikamaru.

"I don't feel so good," growled out Naruto.

"What happened to you?" inquired Chouji.

"I got into a fight," said Naruto calmly.

"Yeah… it seems we all did, but we're not as bad off as you, so either you're just stupid or your opponents were a lot harder."

"Hey Naruto, where the hell were you!?" demanded Sasuke.

"I took a little detour," explained Naruto. "By the way, which scroll did they give us?"

Sasuke took out the scroll, "Earth," he said calmly. "Why?"

Naruto chuckled, "Then we are in luck," he took out another scroll from his pouch. "Heaven," he let his teammates get a clear view of it before putting it back.

Sasuke's eyes widened, "When did you get that?"

"When I went on my little detour," explained Naruto.

"Exactly why did you go on the detour?" yelled Sakura.

"Because, I got eaten by a giant snake and it slithered away somewhere before I had a chance to break free," Naruto twisted the truth.

Everyone's face contorted in disgust, "A giant snake ate you?" asked Chouji, momentarily taking a break from his chips.

"Yes, that snake man must have summoned it and it ate me," said Naruto exasperatedly.

"That still does not explain how you got the scroll," Sasuke pointed out.

"That doesn't matter," Naruto seethed. "Let's just get to the tower, so that we can rest."

'_Naruto is definitely hiding something, but he does have a good point,'_ thought Sasuke. '_We could all use some extra rest.'_

"Sasuke, you seem to be fine," said Naruto. "Sakura, you seem to be fine too. So let's just make our way to the tower, so that we don't have to fight anyone else."

"Yes, but are _you_ fine?" questioned Sasuke. '_He seems be in a lot of pain, seeing as how he still hasn't gotten up to his feet.'_

"Of course I'm fine!" yelled Naruto and stood up quickly. '_Oh god, I shouldn't have done that,'_ thought Naruto as he bit into his tongue to alleviate the pain. '_Looks like I'm gonna have to channel chakra across my body to be able to stand up and run. It will be all worth it once we get to the tower, I'm sure they will have a place to rest.'_

Sasuke was still suspicious of his blond teammate, but decided that getting to the tower was the best option. "He's right, Sakura, as soon as you're done with Ino we're leaving," he announced.

"All right, Sasuke-kun!" she yelled.

Within half an hour, team seven left the company of the other Leaf genin and made their way to the tower. Sasuke noticed that Naruto was constantly lagging behind. Had it been any other occasion, the Uchiha would have made fun the dobe, but this time he realized that Naruto was really suffering. Plus, Sasuke already had a lot to think about. His newly gained power, Orochimaru, and how all this was getting him closer to killing his brother.

At the same time that Naruto killed the Stone team, and Sasuke and Sakura battled with Orochimaru, Gaara found his way back to him team. He caught them fighting with Hidden Rain shinobi. Gaara calmly walked out into the battlefield and turned to face the Rain-nin.

"Humph, another Sand brat has come to fight," said the shinobi in front.

"G-Gaara," said Kankuro shakily. "We could have handled these guys."

"You'll die!" proclaimed the Rain-nin arrogantly.

Gaara clutched his head and grumbled in pain. Behind him Kankuro and Temari both took a step back. '_That damn blond kid riled up Shukaku way too much,'_ thought Gaara. "Enough talk, let's do it, old man from the Hidden Rain."

"Gaara, it's best to get some information first," suggested Kankuro.

"That doesn't matter," Gaara said coldly. "I _need_ to kill them."

Kankuro's eyes widened in horror, '_He needs to kill them that could only mean the monster is angry!'_ Kankuro stepped back further and decided not to get in his brother's way anymore.

"Fine then, let's do it!" yelled the Rain-nin and three his umbrella up in the air. After a few hand seals he cried, "Ninpou: Raining Needles no Jutsu!" thousands of needles headed towards Gaara, who just stood calmly with his arm crossed. '_Too easy,'_ thought the Rain-nin as the needles hit their target. However, when the dust settled, he could see that all the needles were blocked by Gaara's sand.

"Is that it?" mocked the boy. The Rain-nin became angry and frightened and sent several more needles at the opening in the sand shield. Only to have them blocked once more. "A rain of needles, eh?" asked said Gaara. "Then, I guess I'll make it rain _blood_."

"A wall of sand?" wondered the Rain-nin.

"Yes," answered Kankuro. "A sand-based total defense. The sand is packed into the gourd with chakra, and it protects his body and the surrounding area. A jutsu specific to Gaara, and the best part is that it happens automatically regardless of Gaara's will. You cannot defeat our Gaara."

"Shut up!" the Rain-nin ran towards Gaara, but the demon container had already formed the necessary hand seal.

Gaara then stretched out his arm and said, "Desert Coffin." Gaara's sand wrapped around the Rain-nin completely and started raising him into the air. Gaara picked up the Rain-nin's fallen umbrella and opened it before activating his final jutsu. "Desert Graveyard," he said coldly and violently closed his fist. The sand around the Rain-nin tightened and blood flew everywhere. It literally rained blood, like Gaara said it would.

"No suffering, because I killed him so quickly he didn't even have time to experience it," explained Gaara.

"You can have out scroll, just please let us go," the remaining Rain shinobi were on their knees begging.

Gaara just stretched out his hands again. The sand covered the remaining two enemies and held them while Gaara contemplated what to do. "Uzumaki… Naruto…" mumbled Gaara and clutched his head. "You two will suffer," he said to his prey. Gaara closed his fist, but only squashed the Rain-nin's legs, then his arms, and finally his torso and head. He repeated the procedure with the last Rain shinobi.

Once it was all over, Kankuro walked over to what was left of the corpses and picked out a Heaven scroll. "What luck, now we can head straight for the tower," he said happily.

"Shut up," said Gaara. "I haven't had enough yet."

"Let's stop, Gaara," Kankuro tried reasoning with his brother.

"Are you afraid, coward?" taunted Gaara.

"This is too dangerous for us, plus we only need one scroll."

"Don't tell me what to do you piece of shit!"

Kankuro's eyes narrowed, "Sometimes maybe, you should listen to your older brother."

"I've never thought of you as my siblings, so don't get in my way, or I'll kill you," threatened Gaara.

"Gaara, let's stop this alright?" asked Temari. "Don't say such cold thing, please listen to your sister, ok?"

Gaara stretched out his hand as if to perform the Desert Coffin, scaring his siblings shitless, but he simply brought the cork for his gourd up into his hand. "Fine…" said the demon carrier and plugged up his gourd. Temari and Kankuro sighed in relief.

Meanwhile, in the tower, Anko had already been surprised that the Sand team was able to finish the whole test in an hour and thirty-seven minutes. Not only that, but the redhead with the gourd managed to get through it without out even a scratch. It was simply impressive, albeit a bit intimidating. She was informed a couple hours later that a Leaf team had made it to the tower.

Anko met with the Hokage later that night and informed his that Orochimaru had entered into the exam and had set his sights on the last of the Uchiha. The Hokage decided to continue on with the exam, fearing that Orochimaru would make true on his threat to destroy Konoha if the exam was stopped.

Halfway thought the second day of the exam, Anko was informed that another Leaf team made it to the tower; the team that had the last remaining Uchiha on it. She had watched from the shadows as the team opened their scrolls, and confirmed that the Cursed Seal was indeed on the Uchiha.

"So Orochimaru plans to use the Uchiha in some way," contemplated the Hokage.

"Yes," said Anko. "Hokage-sama, with all due respect, I think we should stop the exam."

"No, Orochimaru is dangerous enough as it is," explained the Hokage. "We do not want to anger him more by canceling the exam." Anko did not agree with the Hokage's opinion, but could not do anything about it. "We will keep strict watch over Uchiha Sasuke, as well as Orochimaru's movements," Anko nodded in agreement to that.

Just as Naruto had predicted, they had been given separate rooms and told to just wait until the time limit was up. Naruto fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Inside his mind he made his way to the Kyuubi's cage to demand some answers. An amazing sight unfolded before him, as he made his way through the deep recesses of his mind. The walls seemed to take on a more and more bluish shade as he came closer and closer to the Kyuubi's cage. He was completely shocked when he came into the chamber with the giant gate. The walls' color changed from regular blue to ice blue, and every single bar of Kyuubi's cage had an ice-helix going up it.

Naruto reached out to touch the gates only to have ice develop on his hands before he even came within a foot. "Kyuubi, what the hell is going on here?"

"**Your Suiton seal is evolving as we speak,"** she said.

"I figured that, but what is all this?" questioned Naruto. "And why does my shoulder hurt so much?"

"**Your Suiton Supremacy activated,"** Naruto grinned in satisfaction. "**The problem is that it is trying to catch up to your Doton Supremacy in a matter of days."**

"What? Why?"

"**I would have to guess that it was because of your encounter with another demon container that has Doton Supremacy,"** reasoned the fox. "**I told you before that the seal has a mind of its own."** Naruto nodded. "**Well, it obviously feels threatened and thus is trying to defend itself by powering you up. As for the pain: you see unlike your Doton Supremacy, which took a calm year to develop and the tattoo to lengthen to where it is now, your Suiton Supremacy is trying to develop and grow to the same length in a matter of days."**

Naruto was shocked. So his tattoo had been growing ever since he met up with Gaara. That would most certainly explain why his chakra system felt weird; it was changing.

"**Yes, kit, your chakra system is changing,"** confirmed the Kyuubi. **"And it is changing more drastically than you think."** Naruto wanted to question the fox, but she interrupted. "**The seal is lengthening, thus your chakra pathways have to change to adapt to it. The fastest way to do this is to burn away your old pathways and create new ones."**

"So that's why your chakra keeps flaring up at timed intervals."

"**Yes, that is why I am going to keep your body asleep for the next three days,"** said the fox. "**It will help accelerate the process and not take as much of a toll on your body."**

"Thanks Kyu-chan," was the gentle response.

"**Don't you 'Kyu-chan' me! I'm doing this so that I don't have a splitting headache from having the Suiton seal pull on my chakra every minute,"** the fox growled dangerously.

"Umm… Kyuubi?" Naruto asked tentatively.

"**What is it, brat?"**

"I just wanted to ask, what's up with the ice?" Naruto said shyly.

"**I'll explain that and the basics of the Suiton Supremacy while you're stuck here for the next three days. However, that is not the first item on the list, so you will just have to wait to find out."**

Naruto slept peacefully for the next three days. Sakura was too busy worrying about Sasuke to even notice that Naruto wasn't there, Sasuke just didn't care, and even though Iruka did come to visit his favorite student, he just let the boy sleep and regain his energy.

In three days time, all the genin teams that managed to pass the exam lined up in a large room within the tower. '_This room is like an arena,'_ thought Naruto. '_Is the third test going to be conducted right now?'_

"First off, for the second test," said Anko. "Congratulations on passing!"

'_Out of seventy-eight participants, twenty-one remain,'_ she thought. '_I said I'd cut them in half, but I was expecting single digits.'_

Naruto looked around to see which other teams passed. He scowled when he saw the team from the Sound, '_I knew we should have killed them.'_ He also noticed the team from the Sand, '_Well, I had no doubts about Gaara's team passing.'_ Naruto looked around some more, but could only find Kabuto's team and the rest were rookies.

"Hokage-sama will now explain the third test, listen carefully."

"Yes, but before I explain the third test, there is something I would like you to know," stated the old man. He went on to explain how the exam is replacement for war among the allied countries.

'_What is this crap?'_ thought Naruto. '_Everyone knows that wars are fought by mostly jounin-level shinobi. The level of genin shinobi __might__ give an __idea__ of how strong the village is, but in the overall picture they don't really say that much. If war were to break out the next day, then it would be a while before the genin were forced to fight in the war, so in reality this serves as more of a distraction than a measure of strength. Of course, there is the political and economical angle, stupid bureaucrats and money-hungry businessmen can easily be swayed to believe that the Chuunin Selection Exam really is a show of power. Thus there are more investments made in the village, and because of that power increases and the chance of attacks decreases (theoretically).'_

"… and a shinobi's true strength is born through life-risking battles," the Hokage concluded.

'_Well, I agree with the last statement,'_ nodded Naruto. '_But I don't believe most of people here have or are ready to kill their opponents.' _

"I'd like to explain the third test but…" the Hokage was interrupted by new voice.

"Actually," a shinobi appeared before the Hokage. "I apologize, Hokage-sama, from here on, as the referee will you please allow me, Gekkou Hayate?"

"By all means," said the old man.

"Hello everyone, I'm Hayate," said the sickly shinobi, before coughing. "Before the third test there is something I would like you to do."

'_Shouldn't he be at home fighting his sickness?'_ wondered half of the genin.

"There is going to be a preliminary for the third test to decide who gets to participate in the main event," announced the sickly jounin.

"Preliminary?" yelled Shikamaru. "What do you mean?"

"Because the first and second test were too easy this year, we have too many people remaining," explained Hayate. "So we have to reduce the number of participants for the third test."

"Anyone who is not feeling well and feel like quitting please raise your hand, since we will be starting the preliminaries now."

"What? Right now?" yelled Kiba.

'_Now is not a good time,'_ though Naruto. Although the pain had subsided over the three days of sleep, Naruto still didn't have very good control over his newly altered chakra system. '_If I'm matched up against Gaara right now, I'll die.'_

"I'm going to quit," announced Kabuto.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, '_Spy. He has to be, he has more than enough chakra to participate.'_ Naruto noticed that Sakura tried to get Sasuke to quit also, '_It has something to do with that mark the snake man gave him.'_

"This isn't just a test to me," said Sasuke. "I just want to answer a certain question: 'am I strong?' I just want to fight the strong guys here. I won't forgive ever you if you take that away from me," the last statement seemed to shut Sakura up pretty well.

'_Humph, still the boy-chasing fan girl she always was,'_ thought Naruto.

"Naruto," said the Uchiha. "I want to fight you too." Naruto nodded in acknowledgement.

"Hokage-sama, we should remove him from the exam," suggested Anko.

"No, let's let him continue and watch over the situation," said the Hokage. "If the curse begins opening, then jump in and stop him," the jounin around the Hokage nodded in acknowledgement.

"Since we have twenty participants, we will conduct ten matches and the winners well advance to the third test," explained Hayate. "There are basically no rules, the fight continues until one of you dies or is knocked or admits defeat. If I decided that winner has already been established, then since we don't want to pointlessly increase the number of corpses, I will jump in and stop the battle."

"The electronic scoreboard will show the match-ups for each battle. This may be sudden, but let's announce the first two names."

Everyone looked up at the scoreboard to see who would be up first. "Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi," it said.

"All right, the first two participants come forward. The rest please make your way up to the balconies and wait until your name is called," ordered Hayate.

* * *

Wow! You know this chapter goes through 30 manga chapters! It's kinda interesting that it took up 31 pages in word... Well at least I find these kinds of statistics interesting... Longest to date, yada yada yada...  
I actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter. As you noticed plenty of changes from the manga. At this point I'll start to deviate away from the manga, but not by too much. The "break" will come later on, as I'm finding the newer manga chapters (260+) harder and harder to integrate.

Estimate:  
Approximately 4 more chapters until the end of, what I call, the first half; meaning until Naruto leaves to train.

Next chapter: Preliminaries and the month of training.


	6. Ascension

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Thank you to all my reviewers!

"blah" speech  
"_blah_" thoughts  
"**blah**" Kyuubi's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Kyuubi's thoughts

Kyuubi no Tai - No this will not be a NaruHina.

supercrazyinsanemonkeyman - Yeah, I'll be keeping the match-ups the same, but I'll of course cut out the boring ones. Yes, and later... well approx 3ish chapters.

wolvesm0on - Because Naruto's whiskers will be bloodied up later -evil smile-

EvilP - Think of it this way: the more Naruto's mask drops, the more the story changes. And your theory's not gonna happen.

bloodofakiller - Ending what, Naruto's deception? That will be within the next 5 chapters. End of the whole story? I don't know, the ending isn't even thought up yet.

Peter Kim - Yes, I've noticed, but I have different plans. Naruto doesn't/won't need the snake man; you'll understand why soon enough.

Narugami Kiyou - No, I don't think you did.

Happyworldain - Thanks for bringing that to my attention, I'll figure something out. This will be addressed later, since right now Naruto does not know very much biology.

**As of 9/23/08**: Added a quick tidbit about angels that will be important later (3rd arc).

* * *

Chapter 6 – Ascension

"Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi."

Sakura sadly looked upon her crush, '_All I can do is watch.'_

Naruto saw Sasuke wince and tilt his body to the left a little, '_That mark on Sasuke's neck sure seems to have him in pain,'_ thought Naruto. '_I wonder what it is and whether it's anything like my tattoos?'_ The stronger of the genin were all excited that they would be able to watch the Uchiha genius' abilities.

The examiner waited until everyone had cleared the stage. "Now, we will start the first match," he announced.

Kakashi walked by Sasuke and quietly told him not to use the Sharingan, which did not go unnoticed by Naruto. However the blond pretended not to notice his teacher. "If that Curse Seal activates you might lose your life," he said. "But if that happens, I'll jump in and stop the match, got that?"

Sasuke frowned, '_He'll stop it? No! I can't lose here or else I'll never defeat him…'_

'_A Curse Seal,'_ mused Naruto. '_So that's what it's called.'_

"**It's a branding of sorts,"** said the fox.

'_Branding?'_ wondered Naruto. '_But who would do that?'_

"**A snake, or more specifically a serpent,"** explained Kyuubi. "**It is in their nature to brand any living objects they own, or maybe plan to own in the future. In the case of fighters, the branding usually entails with it a bit of corrupted power."**

'_Power, huh? Well that's one thing that Sasuke would never turn down.'_

"**Exactly, and he's from the kind of bloodline that anyone would like to have in their servitude."**

'_It seems this Curse Seal reacts to my chakra,'_ analyzed Sasuke. '_If I try to release my chakra, it steals my mind and begins pulling out all my body's chakra. So in this match I won't be able to use any of my jutsus.'_

"Now, please begin!"

Yoroi pulled out three shuriken and threw them at Sasuke, who expertly made them rebound back to his opponent. Yoroi dodged the shuriken and the next thing Sasuke knew, Yoroi was attacking him from the side. Sasuke managed to pull off some fancy acrobatics and pin Yoroi down on the ground. However, Yoroi's ability to suck out chakra came in very handy in this moment. Sasuke felt his strength drain out of him and was forced to release Yoroi.

Yoroi instantly kicked Sasuke away, but didn't give him any breathing time and instantly had his hand on Sasuke's forehead and was sucking out his chakra. The Uchiha managed to kick his opponent away, but was heavily drained. '_He will probably try to make this a close contact fight,'_ thought Sasuke. '_What do I do?'_

"Uchiha Sasuke," said Gaara coldly. "This is it?"

Sasuke heard the murmuring of disbelief about his abilities, '_Damn it, but what can I do?'_ that's when he saw Yoroi rush him. '_I know!'_ Right before Yoroi reached him, Sasuke disappeared and then proceeded to kick Yoroi right under the chin.

'_That's my…!!'_ thought Lee in shock.

"From here I'm going original," said Sasuke.

'_So, he did manage to copy Lee's move,'_ thought Naruto. '_But he doesn't know the finishing sequence. Well, he's got a good head, he'll think something up.'_

Sasuke wanted to start off his combo, but just then the Curse Seal activated again and he paused. '_Shit! I can't let this thing control me!'_ the Uchiha forced the seal to stop spreading and retreat. "Here it comes," he recommenced his attack.

'_He forced the Curse Seal to recede!'_ Anko was astonished.

Sasuke tricked Yoroi into blocking several of his beginning hits, but then literally kicked his opponent into the ground. "Lion Rendan!" he yelled. Yoroi was knocked out cold, and Sasuke was announced the winner. Kakashi quickly picked him up and disappeared to somewhere more appropriate to seal away the Curse Seal.

"Next match: Zaku Abumi vs. Aburame Shino."

"Hey Sakura, did you see a weird mark on Sasuke's neck during the fight?" asked Naruto. '_I'm sure she knows about it, since she was there when he received it from Orochimaru.'_

Sakura's eyes downcast for a minute, '_Sasuke specifically told me not to tell Naruto about the mark,'_ she contemplated. '_I better not, since then Naruto will worry also.'_

"I don't know either," she lied.

"Oh," said Naruto. '_She knows, but doesn't want to tell me for some reason, I wonder why?'_

In the meantime, the second match had already started. Shino managed to sneak his bugs around Zaku and threatened to have the bugs suck out all of Zaku's chakra. Zaku did not buy in to Shino's threats and gritted his teeth. '_Damn! He's forcing me to use my trump card,'_ thought Zaku.

'_Zaku obviously hasn't noticed that some of the bugs have made it onto his body already,'_ Naruto thought. '_It has already been decided!'_

Zaku suddenly unbent his right arm, which had previously been in a cast. "You should always have a trump card, right?" he yelled and prepared to blast both Shino and his bugs at the same time. That's when Zaku's arms were blown off. From the holes in his palm, bugs were seen crawling out.

"When I told you to give up earlier," explained Shino. "I ordered the bugs to close up those dangerous wind holes with their bodies." Zaku fell over and Shino was declared the winner.

"What is he?" wondered Lee. "Neji?"

Neji activated the Byakugan, "I can understand summoning bugs but…" he said shocked. "Bugs are living throughout his entire body."

"What!?"

"He must be a member of the bug using clan of the Leaf," said Neji. "I've heard of them, a clan whose members, at the time of birth, give their body to insects to use as a nest. The clan can freely control the insects and use them as a primary fighting technique. By feeding the insects their chakra, they have established a contract with the bugs."

'_So that's how it works,'_ thought Naruto. '_They are basically born with the bugs and grow up together. Kind of like me and you, Kyuubi.'_

"**If you let me out to fight, then yes."**

'_That's a little impossible,'_ Naruto chuckled nervously. "What? That Shino guy is that strong? Damn it!" said Naruto when he noticed Sakura looking at him.

"I always thought he was creepy but…" she trailed off. '_I wonder if I'll be able to beat my opponent?'_

Kakashi appeared behind them with a simple, "Hey."

"What do you mean 'hey'?" questioned Sakura. "Where is Sasuke-kun? Is he alright?"

"Don't worry he's fine, he's sleeping in a hospital bed," said Kakashi. '_With ANBU protection…'_

"Phew, I'm glad," she said softly.

Naruto turned back to the scoreboard, "Tsurugi Misumi vs. Kankuro," it said. Both combatants jumped down from the second floor and stood facing each other; Kankuro from the Sand and Misumi from the Leaf.

'_It's the doll-playing Sand-nin,'_ thought Naruto.

"**Don't underestimate puppeteers,"** said the Kyuubi. "**It is comparable to having a Kage Bunshin, or two, except they can't use chakra."**

"Unlike Yoroi, even against little punks, I show no mercy," declared the Leaf-nin. "I'll say it now, if I put my techniques on you it is over. Give up immediately."

"I'll end this quickly," said Kankuro and detached the puppet from his back.

Naruto watched as the Leaf-nin was tricked into thinking that he killed Kankuro only to have the dead Sand-nin turn out to be a puppet. The puppet's arms wrapped completely around the Leaf-nin and squeezed until his opponent stopped screaming. '_Well that did indeed end quickly,'_ thought Naruto. '_But all the matches, so far, have been pretty quick.'_

"Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino," both girls gasped. Naruto tried to hold back a groan, but failed in the end.

"Sakura, I never thought I'd be fighting you," said Ino.

"Those two," said Shikamaru lazily. "This could get annoying." Naruto nodded; he had been thinking the same.

The boys' suspicions were confirmed when the first thing the girls started talking about was their 'love' for Sasuke. '_I can understand that Sakura wants to fight her rival all out, but why not show this by attacking instead of standing there exchanging glares?'_

"Her basic chakra control is perfect for a rookie," explained Kakashi; though Naruto thought he was just trying to make it look like he was actually a good teacher. "She has greatly improved."

'_Improved!?' _thought Naruto. '_Improved in what? Oh yeah, she can gather chakra to her feet to increase her speed and stick to a tree. Her speed with chakra is about half my speed without chakra.'_

The fight continued, with each side only using basic taijutsu and ending up even each time. '_This is boring…'_ thought Naruto. '_They've been going at it for over ten minutes. I should take a nap.'_ Naruto half closed his eyes and started slipping into the meditation realm, when suddenly he noticed that Ino had cut out her ponytail and trapped Sakura. '_That idiot! Use chakra to break out of the hold. Ino's not feeding anymore chakra, so just counter it by pouring slightly more in to break the hold.'_ Naruto knew that he could not give that advice out loud. He also realized that Sakura simply didn't have the chakra reserve to do so. '_Oh well, match over.'_ Naruto closed his eyes and started some light meditation.

He only came to when Sakura's body was leaned up against the wall behind him. '_Huh? Both Ino and Sakura, so it was a tie?'_ Naruto wondered.

Tenten vs. Temari was a quick battle, since the Leaf weapon user could do nothing against the Sand wind user. The wind attacks would simply blow away all the weapons.

'_Long-range vs. mid-range,'_ thought Naruto. '_The mid-range could have won, if she had only been better trained in taijutsu. A weapon-user that can't use taijutsu seems very wrong.'_

Temari threw Tenten aside, who was caught by Lee. The green-clad genin then proceeded to try and attack her, but she blocked with her fan.

"Lee, stop!" ordered Gai.

"Temari, get up here," ordered Gaara coldly. "You've been declared winner, stop wasting time with that pathetic guardian guy." Lee glared at Gaara, but the demon carrier didn't give a damn.

"Picking a fight with the Sand guys," said Kiba nervously. "I wouldn't want any part of them." He remembered what his team had seen Gaara do in the second exam, and shuddered.

"Don't lose to those guys, Naruto!" yelled Sakura.

'_You want me to fight Shukaku when I can't activate the Supremacy? No thank you!'_ exclaimed Naruto in his mind. This was one of the side effects the Kyuubi had told him about. While the Suiton tattoo was growing, Naruto would not be able to activate the Doton Supremacy; this was also true vice versa. '_Anyone, but Gaara,'_ decided Naruto. '_Well, I wouldn't want to fight Lee either.'_

"Alright! Come on, hurry! My turn, my turn!" yelled Lee; he really did want to get it over with.

"Nara Shikamaru vs. Kin Tsuchi."

Shikamaru made quick work of the Sound-nin by using her own string's shadow to attach his shadow to hers. He then, made her smash her head into the wall behind her.

"Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba."

'_I'm fighting against Kiba, eh?'_ thought Naruto.

"Lucky!" yelled Kiba. "We can definitely defeat him, Akamaru!"

"Begin match," said the examiner and backed away.

"I feel bad for you, so I'll end it with one punch," bragged Kiba. Naruto stayed silent and waited for Kiba to attack. "Gijyuu Ninpou: Shikyaku no Jutsu," said Kiba. (Beast Mimicry: Four Legs) Kiba attacked Naruto from an animalistic stance at a fast speed. Naruto had not expected such speed and even though he blocked, Naruto was still thrown back.

'_I guess I'll have to show off some,'_ thought Naruto grimly.

"He won't be opening his eyes for a while, referee," said Kiba confidently.

"I let you hit me," replied Naruto as he quickly got up on his feet. "I wanted to see if you had some bite in you, and not just all bark."

"You'll regret that!" Kiba scowled. "Let's go Akamaru."

'_Smoke ball?'_ wondered Naruto as he saw Kiba pull a small sphere out of his pouch and threw it in front of Naruto. '_Shit I can't see,'_ thought Naruto. He ran out of the cloud only to be instantly pushed back in by Akamaru. '_Humph, a dog is easy to apprehend.'_ Naruto quickly over-powered Akamaru and tied him up.

'_Let's see, that idiot dog-boy will be expecting Akamaru to have beaten me,'_ deduced Naruto. '_So I'll just make it look like that… and leave him a little surprise,'_ he reached into his pouch.

When the smoke cleared, Kiba saw Akamaru sitting next to a knocked out Naruto. "Yes! Great job, you did it Akamaru!" yelled Kiba as Akamaru ran towards him. However, at the last moment Akamaru bit Kiba's arm. The said dog transformed into Naruto.

"You fell for it," mocked Naruto.

"You, with Henge no Jutsu," said Kiba in shock. "Damn it! I wasn't paying attention."

"Idiot," said Naruto.

That's when Kiba noticed an explosive note on Naruto's back, but he didn't have enough time to get away and it blew up. Kiba was tossed across the arena and was on his knees and breathing hard. '_He tricked me and managed to get an explosive note right next to me,'_ thought Kiba. '_But wait, doesn't that mean he blew himself up!'_

"No way," said Shikamaru amazed. "He combined Kage Bunshin, Henge, and attached an explosive note to his clone."

"He has good timing with his jutsu," said Temari.

'_Uzumaki Naruto…'_ thought Gaara. '_He's not showing his real power. Why?'_

"What are you going to do now?" mocked Naruto. "Your, oh so valuable, tool has been disabled."

Kiba snarled, "I'll show you!"

Kiba launched himself at Naruto wanting to knock him down like last time, but Naruto skillfully dodged. Kiba quickly moved towards Akamaru and slipped something inside his mouth before Naruto kicked him in the side, promptly sending him into the near wall. However, Naruto turned to the side to find his rope torn and a now red Akamaru tearing through his Kage Bunshin.

"Red fur?" asked Naruto.

"That's why he's named Akamaru," said Kiba while chewing on the same thing.

"I see, so you gave him a soldier's pill," said Naruto. "That's fine, but you seem to need all the help you can get," the taunting continued.

"Gijyuu Ninpou: Jyuujin Bunshin!" yelled Kiba. (Half-Beast Clone) Akamaru changed into an exact duplicate of Kiba and they both attacked him using the Shikyaku no Jutsu. Naruto swiftly dodged and stuck to a wall. His opponents didn't care where he was and attacked him regardless.

Naruto waited for Kiba and Akamaru to get really close before finally jumping away, and leaving an explosive note attached to the wall. However, this time Kiba saw through it and managed to push Akamaru out of the way before it exploded.

"Is that all you can do, dodge and leave behind explosive notes?" yelled Kiba. Not waiting for a reply Kiba attacked again, "Gatsuuga!" he yelled, as he and Akamaru spun around like drills. (Double Fang Destroyer).

'_Oh crap!'_ was the only thing Naruto could think before he got hit with the attack. The blond flipped in the air and landed on his stomach on the other side of the arena.

"That's the difference between our abilities," mocked Kiba. "You're weaker than me!"

Naruto snarled quite loudly, and got up to his knees. '_I don't care how much my shoulder will hurt, I will kill him.'_ Naruto closed his eyes in concentration. '_Feel for it… feel for it… got it!'_ he smirked. '_Suiton Supremacy activation! Hidden Mist no Jutsu,'_ thought Naruto and watched as the air around him condensed into fog.

"What the hell?" said Kiba. "I don't know what you did, but this won't work on me. After all, I can track you by your smell."

Kakashi's eye widened in shock, '_How the hell does he know that jutsu?'_

Gai was also shocked and looked over at Kakashi. '_Did he copy it and teach his students? But I didn't see any hand seals.'_

Once the mist was thick enough to hide Naruto's movements, the blond shinobi started his hand seals. "Doton: Vibration Tracker," he whispered and directed the remaining chakra into his feet. Now Naruto could feel all the vibrations in the floor, thus knowing his opponent's exact position.

That seemed a little pointless, once Naruto heard Kiba yell out, "Gatsuuga," and he felt the mist ripple. Naruto did several hand seals and put his palms on the ground, "Doton: Doroku Gaeshi," he said. (Earth Wall Land Flip)

Naruto didn't wait to see Kiba and Akamaru slam into and then drill through the wall, he instead jumped away, but not too far. He was hoping that Kiba and Akamaru would stop spinning, so that he could take them out with taijutsu, but it was not to be. Kiba and Akamaru turned around while still spinning and attacked Naruto in his new position.

'_I can't keep dodging,'_ thought Naruto. '_I need to find a way to stop them… I know.'_ Naruto quickly did a hand seals and transformed into Kiba via Henge. As soon as Kiba saw that he was going to hit himself, he was forced to stop and evaluate the situation.

"So that's your plan," said one of the three Kiba's. "I'll warn you, I wasn't focusing and didn't notice last time, but Henge won't work against me," continued the same Kiba.

'_It doesn't matter, I already know which one's which,'_ rejoiced Naruto. So when the real Kiba went to punch Naruto, the blond had disappeared from in front of Kiba. Naruto reappeared in front of Akamaru and stabbed him in the abdomen with a kunai, which he twisted right before pulling it out. Blood poured out of the open wound and the Jyuujin Bunshin was released.

Akamaru lay there in a small puddle of blood. "Akamaru!" yelled Kiba and instantly kneeled down beside his companion. "Akamaru! Are you alright!?" Akamaru whined a little before passing out.

Everyone on the top floor was shocked. Was this really Naruto? It seemed the Naruto they knew wouldn't even hurt a fly. Yet here he was standing over Akamaru with a bloody kunai; a small smirk showing on his face. Naruto wasn't trying to be openly malicious in front of such a big crowd, but instead wanted to put himself into a sort of high so that he could ignore the pain.

Kiba looked up at a smirking Naruto. "I'll make you pay for that!" he growled. "How did you even distinguish?"

"That was the simple part," was the calm answer. "Dogs can't talk." Kiba narrowed his eyes, by talking with Naruto he had given away his own identity. "You should forfeit," advised the blond. "I'm not sure if Akamaru can survive long if you don't get him to a hospital."

Kiba growled out a battle cry and blindly launched himself at Naruto. Kiba was trying his hardest to rip apart the other Leaf genin with his claws, but Naruto kept dodging. "Stop dodging you son of a bitch!" Kiba yelled.

"Fine," Naruto and instead of dodging he blocked and counter-attacked Kiba by upper-cutting him. Since Naruto transferred chakra to his fist beforehand, Kiba flew high up into the air. Naruto quickly jumped up above his opponent and kicked him as hard as he could in the face.

Kiba slammed hard into the ground and before he could even think about getting up, Naruto was on top of him with a kunai pressed to his neck. "Do you surrender?" he said harshly. Kiba tried to struggle, but Naruto just pushed the blade even closer to Kiba's neck. "I ask again, do you surrender?"

When Kiba refused to say anything the second time Naruto said, "Fine," and pierced Kiba's skin. Though before Naruto could cut in even half a centimeter, the examiner had already grabbed the blonde's arm. "The match is over," he announced. "Winner: Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto got up off of Kiba and proceeded to dust himself off and walk up the stairs to the second floor. He kept his head down so that no one would see the absolute joy radiating from his eyes. '_That felt good,'_ thought Naruto containing his grin in a small smirk. Naruto walked by Kiba's teammates without even glancing up, he could feel Kiba's teacher glaring at him for what he did to her student, but he didn't care.

Naruto reached his team and reassumed his position next to Sakura. "Naruto, did you really have to go that far?" asked Sakura cautiously.

'_Calm down, calm down, play the innocent… or at least try to,'_ the blond frowned. "I didn't really mean to go that far," Naruto put on an innocent look. '_I was completely out of it back there. I didn't care who was watching, I was going to kill him and I was going to be happy with that.'_

Sakura didn't look too convinced, but decided not to press the issue. '_I wonder what happened in the Forest of Death?'_ wondered both Sakura and Kakashi, but for different reasons. Kakashi thought that maybe the encounter with Orochimaru had somehow altered the boy. Kakashi wanted to console Naruto, but didn't know how to approach him. Sakura wondered exactly where Naruto had gone during the first day. '_He came back with a scroll after all,'_ she thought. '_That would mean that he had to fight for it, but Naruto couldn't have defeated an entire team by himself.'_

Naruto, meanwhile, was thinking about the people that were still left. '_Hinata, Chouji, Neji, Lee, Dosu, and Gaara,'_ he counted. '_I want to see Gaara's fight.'_

"Hyuuga Hinata vs. Hyuuga Neji."

"Having to fight someone from your family," said Sakura sadly. "That must be hard."

"They are members of the Leaf's oldest and greatest bloodline," explained Kakashi. "But they are not siblings."

"Then what are they?" asked Sakura. "Cousins?"

"Hmm, they are members of the Hyuuga clan's Main House and Branch House," said the jounin.

"Main House and Branch House?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, Hinata is part of the Main House. While Neji carries the Hyuuga blood, but is part of a lower house," clarified Lee.

"They are cousins then," reasoned Sakura. "That makes fighting each other difficult."

"Yes, but… many things have happened between those houses and right now they do not get along very well."

"Why?"

"I don't know everything," said Lee. "But many rules have been put into place to protect the blood and house of the original Hyuuga family. Hence the Main House is put into an advantageous situation, because of this the Branch House feel slighted."

"So they hate each other," concluded Naruto. "Then, the fight is not so difficult."

"Begin the match," said the examiner.

"Before we begin the fight, I'd like to say something Hinata-sama," Neji went into complete lecture mode. Neji kept talking for more than ten minutes about how Hinata doesn't even measure up to a genin and how she should just quit.

Naruto was beyond pissed. He had calculated three fights, meaning he would be free to go in about 20-30 minutes. Any longer and his last pain killer would wear off before he was far from inquisitive minds. Then comes along this jackass and starts talking instead of fighting; how much time was he hoping to waste?

"Are ever going to actually fight!?" yelled Naruto. "Or are you so afraid of the Main House that you have to try and wear them down with your stupid insults beforehand. Hinata, you should kick this dumb bastard's ass!"

Neji frowned, '_He's so annoying.'_ The Hyuuga genius turned back towards Hinata and saw that her eyes now held a look of confidence. "Well, I see you're not going to quit. Let's begin the fight then."

'_Well finally, how long do you expect me to wait on you idiots to see a demon container fight?'_

Hinata and Neji exchanged many quick blows, but Neji came out on top because he had been closing off Hinata's opening points since the very beginning of the match. Naruto watched, but only because he was interested in the Hyuuga's taijutsu style, which he had heard was the strongest in the Leaf. '_Closing off chakra opening points and disrupting the flow of chakra is the premise of the whole style.'_ Naruto contemplated on this for a little bit. Could the Hyuuga close off his chakra? The regular one, of course they could, but what about Kyuubi's?

"**Nope, demonic-chakra opening points can't be closed off by human chakra."**

'_Wait, demonic-chakra opening points? As opposed to human-chakra opening points? Which ones do I have?'_ questioned Naruto.

"**You have both,"** said the fox. "**Most of your chakra system is human; the Supremacies are of course demonic. However, there are some demonic-chakra opening points throughout your body, because of your extensive use of my chakra."**

'_So those can't be closed, unless the closing is done with demonic chakra, right?'_

"**Or angelic chakra, and since the Supremacy Seals have direct access to my chakra supply, you will always be able to use chakra."** Naruto smirked. He definitely liked all the advantages he had over the Hyuuga fighting style.

"Wait, you said angelic chakra?"

"**Yes, just like there are demons on Ningenkai there are also angels,"** replied the fox. **"Or so I have heard from other demons; I have never actually met one here."**

Naruto nodded and went back to watching the fight just as Hinata was knocked down and couldn't get back up. "**Human bodies, are really so frail."** Hinata was carried away on a stretcher, while Gai was attempting to chew out Neji, who was ignoring everything.

"We will begin the next match," said the examiner.

"Gaara vs. Rock Lee."

Gaara teleported down to the arena using his sand and Lee simply jumped down. "To be able to face you this early," said Lee joyfully. "I couldn't be happier."

"**Well, this will be an interesting battle,"** commented the fox, who was now completely awake and alert.

'_Gaara will squash him, I think.'_

"**Don't be so hasty to judge,"** she said. "**After all, the reason Shukaku hates me is that he cannot keep up with my speed. Depending on how fast that freak really is, this may be the worst match up for Shukaku."**

Naruto and Kyuubi watched as Lee tried to hit Gaara, but the sand kept blocking all of his attempts. Naruto was shocked that someone only a year older than him was this fast. Gaara tried to go on the offensive, but Lee dodged the sand and leapt up on to the statue on the side of the room.

"Lee, take them off!" yelled Gai. After questioning his teacher a little bit, Lee finally complied and took off enough weight to make two very large dust clouds rise up when he dropped them.

Afterwards, Lee moved at an incredible pace that Naruto had trouble following. Gaara's sand could no longer keep up with Lee and the Leaf-nin finally landed a blow, which he quickly followed up with a punch to the face. That's when everyone saw it, Gaara's armor of sand was crumpling and Gaara had a completely deranged look on his face.

'_An absolute defense?'_ wondered Naruto.

"**Not quite. The shield of sand can be gotten around with speed and the armor of sand can be broken,"** explained the Kyuubi. "**So really, it is not absolute at all."** Naruto watched Lee unwrap his bandages and get ready to do that one attack. "**Well that's just stupid, The Lotus' impact will be absorbed by the sand."**

'_The Lotus?'_

"**The attack that Lee uses, that's its name."**

Lee used a series of kicks to send Gaara flying because of the extra weight of the sand, but when he did that the pain increased and Gaara had time to switch with his sand and avoid the attack completely. Gaara then started to attack Lee with all of his sand, throwing him about like a rag-doll.

"Why won't Lee-san dodge?" asked Sakura.

"That Lotus technique is a double-edged sword," explained Gai. "Right now, he is feeling so much pain that he can barely move." However after being thrashed around some more, Lee finally got his muscles back under control and could continue the fight again.

"**Another problem with Shukaku, is that he always plays with his opponents,"** growled Kyuubi. "**He's screwed up assignments before because of it too, yet he never learns."** The demon Curse Shukaku for several more minutes before switching her attention back to the fight.

"The Lotus of the Leaf blooms twice…" said Kakashi slowly. "But that would mean…"

"It's exactly what you think," said Gai.

"Then that genin kid can open the Eight Celestial Inner Body Gates."

"Gai, how many can he open?" inquired Kakashi.

"Five."

Lee opened the fourth gate before starting his attack. He moved so fast that Gaara's sand couldn't keep up at all. Even the jounin had trouble following Lee's movements. Finally Lee opened the fifth gate and started the Extreme Lotus, hoping to finish the fight. However, Gaara's gourd turned into sand and protected him when he was slammed into the ground.

As soon as they were on the ground, Gaara sent out his sand to capture Lee. He wrapped it around Lee's left arm and leg and closed his fist. "Desert Coffin," he said and broke the bones in Lee's left arm and leg. The rest of the sand then moved around to surround Lee completely and then crush him whole, but Gai broke off the attack, saving Lee.

"Winner: Gaara!" announced the examiner.

Naruto looked down at Gaara, his eyes conveying his thoughts. '_You should have been good enough to kill him.'_ The blond then turned away and watched the medic-nin carry him off, but not before they told Gai that Lee would not be able to live as a shinobi again.

Chouji and Dosu's fight was over within a minute. All the Sound-nin had to do was use the amplifier on his arm and Chouji was knocked unconscious. Naruto shook his head at how sad that match had been.

"Well, with this the preliminary trials for the third test have been completed," said Hayate. "To all who won the right to compete in the third exam, congratulations!"

The Hokage explained the third exam in unnecessary detail, which Naruto was sure most of the people ignored. They then drew numbers for the match ups in the finals. Naruto was assigned to fight Neji. The Hokage clarified that just because it was a tournament style that didn't mean that the winner would be the only one to become a chuunin. The examiners would be looking at each person's overall skills, and that you didn't even have to win to become a chuunin.

As soon Naruto heard that the Hokage had dismissed them he had run out. '_Kakashi will probably expect me to come to him asking to get trained,'_ thought Naruto. '_And then of course he'll reject me saying that Sasuke is so much more important.'_ Naruto decided to not even bother looking for Kakashi and headed straight for his house to sleep off the final pain of the Suiton Supremacy activation.

The next day Naruto went to the hot springs in order to work on his chakra control. '_The water here may be sixty degrees, but at least it's calm,'_ thought Naruto. '_No current to worry about.'_ Naruto channeled the chakra into his feet and stepped out onto the water. That's what he wanted anyway, instead he was completely submerged. '_This is going to be harder that I thought,'_ he frowned at Kyuubi's laughter. It didn't take Naruto too long of a time before he was once again easily walking around on water. '_This new chakra system isn't all that hard to get used to,'_ smiled Naruto.

"**That's all nice and simple, now start jumping and channeling chakra for other techniques,"** instructed the demon. "**Slacker."**

'_Hey! That's not very nice,'_ complained the blond.

"**Who ever told you I was nice?"**

'_Well, there was that time when you helped me out with the…'_

"**Shut up and get to work!"** bellowed the Kyuubi. "**Or I'll show just how **_**nice**_** I really am."** Naruto gulped and promptly shut up. His first jump, submerged his up to his chest, but with some practice Naruto could land on the surface once more.

That's when Naruto noticed him; a man in a red vest with long white hair was peeking into the woman's bath. '_Pervert,'_ was the only thought going through Naruto's head. Naruto suddenly grinned darkly, this would be a very nice, not to mention funny, way to train his Suiton techniques. He did several seals and said, "Suiton: Water Explosion no Jutsu."

Naruto had expected the man to be blown away by the attack, or if he was a shinobi to dodge. He certainly did not expect the man to turn around and summon a toad that easily blocked the attack. Naruto raised his eyebrows in awe, "Hey, what's with the toad summoning? Who are you?" questioned Naruto.

"Alright! Thanks for asking!" yelled the old man. "Mt. Myobokugama's holy master sennin, also known as Toad Sennin. Remember it!"

Naruto sweat-dropped, '_This man… is a complete and utter moron.'_

"**He is very much like your mask,"** said the fox. Her tone suddenly went grave, "**That summoning, I recognize it. The Yondaime used the same one when he sealed me."**

'_That little thing against you?'_ wondered Naruto.

"**No, you idiot, the Yondaime used the boss of the toads,"** snarled Kyuubi. "**I meant they are the same species."**

"You're a perverted sennin, that's what you are," said Naruto. "Why the hell were you peeking into that bath?"

"It is necessary for my work."

"Work?" asked Naruto.

"I'm a writer," explained the sennin. "I'm working on a novel," he took out an Icha Icha Paradise book from his pocket.

Naruto put a hand on his forehead, "So you're the author of _those_ books," he said slowly. '_Just my luck, first a perverted teacher obsessed with that book and now the author of that book.'_

"Oh so you've heard of this book," said the sennin happily.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yes, there are plenty of perverts in Konoha. Some that read it every minute of the day," Naruto referred to Kakashi. '_That reminds me, I don't have a teacher to get ready for the finals.'_

"**Force this guy to teach you,"** she ordered.

'_What? Why?'_

"**Because he can teach you something I can't: how to summon."**

"Hey, I'll let you off the hook and not tell anyone about your peeping if you train me," said Naruto matter-of-factly.

"What?" asked the sennin. "You mean the water walking?"

"You know about it, then you must know a lot other things," assumed Naruto. "So I expect you to train me."

"I hate disrespectful and rude brats!" screamed the old man. "And I don't like men!"

Naruto decided to try and suck up to the pervert, "Icha Icha Paradise is a really cool book."

"Liar, this book is for adults only," the old man started walking away. "Compliments will get you nowhere with me."

'_In that case, lets see what he says a beautiful girl,'_ Naruto grinned and made on hand seal. "Sexy no Jutsu," he said and transformed into a completely naked girl.

The perverted sennin's attitude took a complete one-eighty, "Oh! I like you!" he proclaimed. "Wow, exactly my type of girl!"

'_Done deal,'_ happily thought Naruto. "Then, you help with my training?" asked Naruto innocently.

"_**Sometimes I wonder how he knows these things?**_**"** thought Kyuubi.

"Yes, I'll train you, but on one condition."

"What is it?"

The old man thought for a little while, "You must remain in that form whenever I'm around."

Naruto immediately cancelled the jutsu, "God damn stupid perverts!" he yelled.

"No," declared the sennin. "I am not a stupid pervert."

"Yeah right," Naruto waved him off.

"I am a super pervert!" he announced, and Naruto face-faulted. "Well, that was a joke, I'll look over your training. Kid, continue with what you were doing before."

"Alright," agreed Naruto and ran over to the hot spring he was at. He stepped onto the water and walked about on the surface for a little while. He then dropped into a stance and began to go through his taijutsu practice, while on top of the water.

"Well, it seems that you have good chakra control," complimented the sennin. "And you know that simply standing the water doesn't work out all the flaws. I'm pretty impressed with your skills so far, kiddo."

Naruto smiled lightly, '_He's actually complimenting me… no one's ever done that before.'_ The Kyuubi cleared her throat menacingly. '_Except you Kyu-chan… sorry, I was just talking about humans.'_

"Get over here, kid, I'm going to teach you a special technique." Naruto quickly walked over to the toad sennin and sat down across from him. "First, there is something I need you to understand. You have two types of chakra."

Naruto was put onto instant alert, '_He knows about the Kyuubi and that I can use her chakra.'_ His eyes narrowed and he stared suspiciously at the sennin. "How do you know about that?" he said in a calm, but calculating tone.

The toad sennin blinked, the boy in front of him had just turned completely serious at the mention of the Kyuubi's chakra. '_Might he be hiding something?'_ wondered the sennin. "The whisker marks give you away pretty quickly," he replied. After noticing the very mistrusting look he added, "I think this technique will be perfect for you, if you can pull out the Kyuubi's chakra."

Naruto's suspicion died down a little, but he was still nervous that the old man knew he was a demon container and yet spoke about so calmly. "I think I'll be able to," said Naruto. "What is this jutsu you want to teach me?"

"Actually it's getting late, lets save the fun for tomorrow," announced the toad sennin. "Meet me here tomorrow."

"Is this a ploy?" asked Naruto seriously. "If this is just some sort of joke, then tell me right now and I won't bother you again."

The toad sennin looked at his new student in wonder, "I am completely serious about this."

"I will trust your word, for now," replied Naruto and walked away.

))))) The Next Day (((((

After meeting at the hot springs, Naruto and Jiraiya made their way over to a waterfall, and Jiraiya was instantly glued to the sight of the girls playing nearby. "Hey, Ero-sennin, could you at least look at me when you're talking, and not at the girls?" requested Naruto. He got no response from Jiraiya, "Then I guess you're not serious about that and are just wasting my time. I'm going now, bye."

Naruto turned to leave, but Jiraiya was blocked his path. "Before I teach you, do you remember the talk we had about the Kyuubi's chakra?"

"It wasn't really 'a talk' more like you asked me about it and I said that I could pull it out," corrected Naruto in an annoyed tone.

"Well yes, anyway, try to release that red chakra," instructed Jiraiya.

'_Release it, already?'_ questioned Naruto. '_Could the Hokage have sent him to check up on me? If they find out I can freely use the Kyuubi's chakra, what will happen?'_

"**Stop it with the paranoia fit!"** yelled the Kyuubi. "**Just release a small amount and say that you lost it right after."** Naruto did as the Kyuubi instructed.

"I see," responded the sennin. "The problem is that, the technique I'm going to teach requires much more than your normal amount of chakra. So you will need to be able to pull out and use your other chakra."

"Alright, I get it," said Naruto. "However, there is one thing that I would like to make perfectly clear, so that it stops bothering me." Jiraiya motioned for the boy to continue. "It is not _my_ other chakra, it is the Kyuubi's chakra," Jiraiya's eyes widened; he had not expected the boy to know that the chakra was indeed the Kyuubi's. "That is why I ask you to please refer to it as such."

"Fine," agreed the sennin. "Since you have access to the Kyuubi's chakra, you should train to release the highest amount of chakra possible and then use that to its capacity."

"Why?"

"Then you will be able to use tons of jutsus," explained the sennin. "Like the one I'm about to teach you: Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

"You're going to teach me that already, great!" smiled Naruto.

"Yes, yes, first off you'll need to sign a contract with the toads," said Jiraiya and summoned a toad that was carrying a scroll in his mouth. It handed the scroll to Naruto, and the boy unrolled it. "Now, write your name in blood and under that press your fingerprints in blood," instructed Jiraiya. Naruto did as instructed and rolled the scroll back up.

"So that's it right?" he asked.

"Yup, give it a try. When you want to call to them, draw out blood, produce chakra and place down the hand you signed the contract with. The hand seals are: boar, dog, bird, monkey, and sheep."

'_Lets try this with my regular chakra first,'_ thought Naruto as he did the necessary hand seals and put his right hand on the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu," he said. A small cloud of smoke appeared and out of it pocked a small head.

"Hey, did you call me out to play," asked the baby toad.

"You idiot!" yelled Jiraiya. "I told you to use the Kyuubi's chakra!"

"Shut up, old man, I just didn't pour in enough chakra," replied the blond. Naruto did the hand seals again and this time poured in a quarter of his chakra. This time the cloud of smoke was a whole lot bigger. When it cleared Naruto was sitting on a large toad that was slightly taller than Jiraiya. "There, see that old pervert, and I didn't even have to use the special chakra."

"Ah well that's really good for a beginner," praised Jiraiya. "Well, just practice summoning toads of all sizes on your own, and meet me back here in two weeks. Just don't use up all of your chakra to summon one toad, alright?"

"Why not?" asked Naruto.

"I'll talk to you about that in two weeks," replied the pervert without taking his eyes off the cute girls.

"Fine, fine, I'll see you in two weeks.

For the next two weeks, Naruto trained on his own the way he had always done. He would only summon toads at the end of the day when a good portion of his stamina and chakra had been spent; most of the toads would grumble at being called out without a purpose. Hence, when he went to talk to Jiraiya two week later he had already seen many of the toads at his disposal.

The toad sennin was quite surprised when Naruto kicked him in the ass for not responding. "I guess two weeks have already passed, huh?" said Jiraiya nonchalantly.

"What did you call me here for?" Naruto got right down to business.

"Yes, I want you to use Kyuubi's chakra to summon the boss toad, Gamabunta," simply said Jiraiya. From Naruto's point of view it looked like Jiraiya was about to run away.

Naruto could feel the Kyuubi growl lightly at the mention of the boss toad, '_Kyu-chan, he's the one that the Yondaime used to fight against you, right?'_

"**Yes, he is,"** she replied. "**He should have a nice scar over his eye, courtesy of yours truly."**

Naruto nodded in agreement to Jiraiya's request and drew on the Kyuubi's chakra before doing the hand seals. Halfway through, Naruto noticed that Ero-sennin had disappeared, but didn't let it bother him too much. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu," he called out as he placed his palm on the ground.

A giant cloud of smoke appearedbelow Naruto, and the genin suddenly found himself sitting on giant toad that had a sword strapped to his side. "So this is what the boss summoning looks like," he said in awe.

"Hey you little punk!" bellowed the toad. "What do you think you're doing on my head!?"

Naruto was slightly taken aback by that question, no other toad had questioned his authority. "I summoned you, hence I'm on your head and you have to do as I say," replied Naruto.

"You shouldn't lie! There is no way in hell a little shrimp like you could summon me," laughed Gamabunta.

Naruto scowled, "I summoned you, you piece of shit _frog_!" Naruto started getting angry and allowed some of his killer intent to seep through.

Gamabunta was shocked, such a little brat, yet he was emitting killer intent and seemed to still have a lot of chakra even after summoning him. "Hey kid, how did you summon me?"

Naruto smirked darkly, "I used the chakra of the one who gave you that scar over your eye," and to reaffirm his position Naruto let some the Kyuubi's chakra leak out through the Supremacy pores.

Gamabunta's pipe, unceremonially, fell out of his mouth, "Y-You are that kid that the Yondaime had with him that night." The boss toad instantly realized that the boy must be having some sort of contact with the fox demon, otherwise he would never have gotten the chakra to summon him; he could only hope that the boy had tamed the demon. "Alright, I acknowledge that you summon me here, but don't expect me to always cooperate with such a little kid as yourself."

"I know all about gaining trust," said Naruto. "I understand completely."

"Good, then I'll be going if you have nothing for me to do," said the boss toad and vanished.

The rest of the month Naruto spent training his physical strength on order of the Kyuubi. She kept saying that he was too slow and too weak. Sure he wasn't as fast as Lee with those five gates open, but he was still pretty fast. However, Naruto never came out the victor in their arguments; she had her ways to convince him, and they were many. The entire day before the finals, Kyuubi had insisted Naruto rest, to which Naruto did not object.

The day of the finals, Naruto walked quickly through the streets of Konoha heading towards the arena where the tournament would be held. He arrived with ample time to spare, but took note that all the participants were already there, except Sasuke.

'_Did he pick up Kakashi's bad habit?'_ wondered Naruto.

During this time the Kazekage appeared and was seated next to the Hokage. The examiner then announced that the main tournament matches would now be starting, but that some of the matches had changed since the Sound-nin, Dosu, was not coming.

"My name is Genma, I will be the examiner for the main matches," announced the jounin. "The rules are the same here as they were in the prelims: there are no rules. You fight until one of you dies or acknowledges defeat. But if I determine the fight is over, then I will step in and stop it, got that?"

"The first fight is Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji," he announced. "Those two stay here, while the rest of you go up to the waiting room."

Up in the stands several chuunin were talking about how Naruto had no chance of winning against the Hyuuga clan. However, the two people sitting next to them, Hinata and Kiba, knew that underestimating Naruto was a foolish thing to do. Kiba especially knew this, since Akamaru had only recently healed.

Naruto looked straight into his opponent's eyes without flinching and not only exhibited absolute self-confidence, but also leaked out some killer intent. '_I'll need it this time.'_

* * *

A/N:  
Before you people you ask me, Gaara did not go to see Lee. You could say that he doesn't care about Lee anymore because of Naruto.  
Sucks when you think up something really cool to do to one of the characters, only to realize that he's quite important in the future... oh well, modifications to the original idea can be made.

I'm too tired to think up anything more to say in the post word... until next chapter.

Next chapter: Finals and Naruto vs. Gaara... at least that's what's planned.


	7. Vilification

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Thank you to all my reviewers!

"blah" speech  
"_blah_" thoughts  
"**blah**" Kyuubi's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Kyuubi's thoughts

Lady Samurai - Yes, well, there's a problem with that. He's the only genin that can beat the spider guy in the Sasuke rescue mission.

Kirara351 - Nope, sorry, you're off by one. Yours was the 201 review.

Cobra-100 - Not at all, I don't consider this a cliffy.

Dairokkan - No, Naruto has always been jutsu oriented. So while he is faster than most genin, he hasn't been pouring all of his training time into taijutsu, like Lee.

Miyata - Not quite, for several reasons, which will be explained later.

Shelly - Of course the Kyuubi wants to be free, does a possibily exist: you'll find out later. Yes, she does care for Naruto. Iruka is around... in Konoha; if you remember he doesn't show up in this portion of that manga either. The Kyuubi is helping Naruto because through him she is able to get revenge on the village; to turn the kid the Yondaime named "hero" into a force that wants to destroy Konoha.

mr. x - fluv? If you want to say "fucking love" go ahead, I don't care if you swear.

No 1 You Know - Yea yea, I know I'm mean, deal with it. If you were hoping to insult me with that you've failed miserably. And what the hell does being a noobish fifth grader have with flaming a fic?

I thought I made it clear that the pairing is NOT Naru/Hina.  
Sorry for the late update, I was busy cheating...

**As of 9/23/08**: Just some grammatical changes.

* * *

Chapter 7 – Vilification

Naruto and Neji stood across from each other; Neji already had his Byakugan activated and was analyzing Naruto's stance. '_Those are the eyes of a person who totally believes in himself,'_ thought Neji. '_That's what makes it worth while; it'll be fun to watch him fall.'_ Neji slipped into the Jyuuken stance.

Naruto made several Kage Bunshin, who all drew a kunai and charged at Neji. '_Let's test him out a little.'_

"But, in the end there's only one," said Neji calmly. Naruto scoffed and ordered his clones to attack. With some fancy acrobatics from Neji, all the clones were destroyed and Naruto was once again standing alone opposite the Hyuuga.

'_No matter which angle I attacked him from he was able to block and counter-attack,'_ analyzed Naruto. '_It seems the opening points aren't the only thing the Byakugan can see. All right, test number two.'_ Naruto was about to make more clones, but Neji started talking again.

"It is impossible for you to win," he announced. "I can figure it out with these eyes. Talent is decided at birth; you could say that everything is decided when a person is born."

"Where the hell do you dig up such bullshit?" asked Naruto.

"Then are you saying that anyone can become Hokage through hard work?" asked the Hyuuga. "Only a handful of shinobi are chosen as Hokage."

"Look closer at reality. Those that become Hokage are born into that destiny; you don't become it by trying. It is decided by destiny," stated Neji. "People must live within their own unchangeable flow. There is only one destiny that everyone shares… death."

"No," disagreed Naruto. "Death is not really shared, since the time and place for each person are different. So if your conclusion is false, then your argument must also be wrong. But enough with the goddamn chit-chat, fight already! This isn't a political negotiation." Naruto made twice as many clones and had them attack Neji. '_This guy is annoying the hell out of me.'_

"I'm not stupid," said Neji. "I already see through your attack pattern."

"Really? You could have fooled me," mocked Naruto. '_Not possible to know my attack pattern, since I'm going to be using a different one this time.'_ Neji scowled, but didn't say anything. When Naruto's clones attacked Neji, this time around, they mostly tried to attack him from behind. Neji was able to block each attempt and kept his eyes focused on the outside of the crowd.

Neji's eyes narrowed slightly as he caught sight of a Naruto that wasn't attacking and he quickly made his way towards him. '_I told you I'm not stupid,'_ thought Neji confidently. '_I've already found the true body.'_ Neji rushed towards Naruto and slammed two fingers into Naruto's arm. "Ha! Fearing having your opening points closed," declared the young Hyuuga. All the other Naruto's around Neji burst into smoke, and the Hyuuga instantly claimed that this Naruto was the real one.

Naruto mentally sighed, '_This guy is quite predictable.'_ The Naruto that Neji had hit suddenly burst into smoke. Naruto and his last clone rose out of the ground behind Neji and jumped to attack him.

Up in the stands everyone was surprised, Naruto managed to trick the Hyuuga genius, and then there was also the jutsu he used to hide himself and his clone. "That was a Doton type jutsu," said Asuma. "I didn't hear about Kakashi teaching him anything like that."

"Do you also feel that?" asked Kurenai.

"Yeah," Asuma paused. "He's leaking killer intent."

"This isn't the Naruto that Kakashi talks about, and from what I've heard Kakashi wasn't the one to teach Naruto during the last month."

"Then, he must have picked it up from whoever he was with," decided Asuma and dropped the matter.

"Whoa! Since when can Naruto rise out of the ground like that?" wondered Sakura.

"What do you mean?" asked Ino.

"I've never seen him do anything like that before," said the pink haired kunoichi. '_Am I ever going to catch up to those two?'_ she wondered sadly.

'_Anticipating what I was thinking and making a clone stand out purposely,_' thought Neji. The Hyuuga quickly turned to confront Naruto, only to find out that there had been another one sent around to get behind him, and that now he was in a pincher attack. '_Oh well, looks like I'm gonna have to use it.'_

Naruto was shocked to find that his fist had come into contact with chakra, but he didn't have enough time to think about it as he was tossed back. Neji spun around releasing chakra from all his opening points, thus repelling everything.

"Did you really think you had won?" taunted Neji. Naruto jumped up on his feet and prepared to attack again. "It's over, you are within my field of Hakke," said Neji. '_I don't know about that weird extension on his chakra system, but since I have not seen any chakra flow through them throughout the whole match I will close off the regular ones and the effect should be the same.'_

"Jyuuken, 64 Hands of Hakke!" yelled Neji as he quickly changed his stance and attacked Naruto before he could even react. Neji's attack was over within seconds and Naruto was thrown back with some blood coming out of his mouth.

'_So that's the tenketsu sealing jutsu,'_ thought Naruto.

"I have hit 64 points on your body," announced Neji. "You can no longer stand."

Naruto shifted his position until he was on his hands and knees and spit out some blood. "Is that all the self-proclaimed Hyuuga genius can do?" mocked Naruto and he laughed and got up on his feet.

"What!?" Neji was flabbergasted. "That's impossible!"

"Oh, anything is possible, Neji-kun," taunted Naruto. "Is this really it? You can only close off this many opening points?"

"Quit already, continuing won't change anything," Neji tried to intimidated the blond. "Especially now that you cannot channel chakra; I have no grudge against you."

"Well, I do!"

"What do you mean?" Neji was confused.

"If you're really so strong, then why must you always try to mentally attack your opponents?" asked Naruto. "Do you _need_ to wear them down, because you wouldn't be able to handle them otherwise?"

"I just try to make people realize that they have no chance to win, so that they don't waste their time," explained Neji.

"So now suddenly you're actually looking out for people. Make up your mind!" yelled Naruto. "So you were looking out for Hinata's well-being _while_ beating the crap out of her? Is that it?"

"All right, if you're gonna go that far, then I'll tell you," said Neji coldly. "About Hyuuga's destiny of hatred."

Naruto arched an eyebrow, "Is this your version of reality again?"

"The Hyuuga Main Family has a special ninjutsu that's been passed down. It's a Curse Seal jutsu," said Neji. Naruto's eyes narrowed at the mention of a Curse Seal. "The curse of the mark represents 'a bird in a cage.' It is the symbol of being tied down to an inescapable destiny." Neji removed his forehead protector to show Naruto the backwards-swastika with a small a line on either side. Neji went on to explain exactly when the seal was burned into his forehead.

'_So melodramatic,'_ thought Naruto. "Why is that even necessary?" Naruto tried to get to the simple truth that Neji obviously didn't want to face. Neji said that the Curse Seal is used by the Main Family as a means of abuse of the Branch Family and that it will only disappear after death, sealing up the Byakugan ability. '_Well, that makes a little more sense,'_ contemplated Naruto. '_They are just stingy nobles that don't want to lose their advantage in battle.'_

Naruto got really angry when Neji started talking about how the Main Family, supposedly killed his father. '_He's just like that stuck-up bastard Sasuke,'_ scowled Naruto. '_Lost his family and has been brooding all this time. I didn't even have family and you don't see me brooding. No, I look ahead to the future, plan, and do everything I can to turn the unfortunate events of my life into strengths.'_

"You done talking, idiot?" asked Naruto coldly. "Boohoo, your daddy was killed. Get over it, you pitiful piece of shit!" Neji was instantly enraged.

"You could never understand what it's like to be burdened with a symbol that you can't get rid of!" yelled Neji.

Naruto merely laughed at him, "Yeah, I do, and so what about it?" Neji simply stared in shock.

The blond shinobi decided to end it now and channeled Kyuubi's chakra. Neji felt chakra radiating from Naruto and turned on his Byakugan to find that chakra was freely flowing through tenketsu that he had sealed only several minutes ago. '_That's impossible!'_

"What's the matter?" mocked Naruto. "Did you think it was impossible for me to use chakra?" Naruto laughed at the absolute horror on Neji's face as he felt Kyuubi form her face with chakra, for Neji's viewing pleasure. "You're just a scared little boy that is afraid to confront the truths of the world, so you blame everything on destiny."

All the adults were on instant alert at the feel of the chakra. Gaara stared wide-eyed at the amount of demonic chakra Naruto was letting loose. Nine red chakra-tails were visible behind Naruto.

Naruto jumped to the side while forming the Kage Bunshin seal and sending three clones to surround Neji. The blond took out three shuriken and threw them at Neji. The Hyuuga genius was going to catch them until he heard Naruto say, "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu," and saw several dozen shuriken coming at him from all directions.

"Kaiten!" he said and spun around deflecting all the shuriken. As soon as he came out of the spin, he caught several of Naruto's shuriken and threw them at the Naruto that was sitting on the wall. The shuriken hit him, but he turned into smoke. '_Shit, Kage Bunshin! But then where is the real one?'_

His answer came when he felt the ground rumble beneath him and looked down to see the head of a dragon coming up. '_Kaiten!'_ thought Neji and expelled chakra from his body. However, Neji quickly found out that he could not spin. He looked down to see his feet behind held by a pair of arms coming out of the ground.

Meanwhile, the earth dragon had already risen up to Neji's height and was closing in on Neji with its mouth open. Neji instinctively held out his right hand in an attempt to defend himself. While Neji had managed to prevent his own death, he did sacrifice heavily for it. The dragon reached out and closed its mouth on whatever was in front of it, which happened to be the Hyuuga's arm.

Blood shot out of Neji's shoulder, like water from a fountain. Neji screamed and collapsed onto the ground. The severed limb was lying, in a puddle of blood, next to the writhing Hyuuga. Paramedics were rushing onto the battlefield, hoping to get there before the boy died. However, what shocked the spectators even more was the absolutely calm face Naruto possessed as he rose out of the ground and went over to look at his handiwork.

"What was all that shit about destiny?" asked Naruto with a sneer. "Were you destined to lose your arm and be beaten by the 'dead last'? Stupid idiot." With that Naruto calmly walked off and let the medic-nin pick up Neji and disappear with him, probably to the hospital.

Before going up to the waiting room, Naruto paused to take a look at the crowd. The sight wasn't too surprising for Naruto. Adults were whispering and glaring down at him, while trying to hide their fear. The Hokage seemed to be in deep thought, but was regarding Naruto with a pitiful look. The younger generation was either shocked or horrified. '_A bunch of wimps most of which haven't seen any more blood than a small kunai cut.'_ Naruto noticed Sakura looking down at him with the most horrified look of all. '_Oh come on little girl, you saw me kill Zabuza and you're still so afraid of me?'_

"**That's why she's afraid of you,"** clarified the Kyuubi. "**She's scared that you were able to do it again, and without the slightest hesitation."**

'_Of course, what's there to hesitate about?'_ wondered Naruto.

The Kyuubi laughed at her container, "**More importantly, are you sure you didn't show off too much? I mean, it's not every day that a rookie genin is able to take an arm off of a member of the most powerful bloodline in Konoha."**

Naruto frowned; he had indeed shown off more than he had been planning to. However, he really saw no other way to win the match. Not unless he was going to rush straight at the Kaiten, pumping in most of his chakra and then beating the crap of a barely-standing Neji. But that idea was just plain stupidity.

When Naruto got up to the waiting room everyone regarded him with caution. "Did you really have to make such a mess of things?" asked Shikamaru, while muttering troublesome under his breath. Naruto simply shrugged, inwardly happy that Shikamaru didn't interrogate him. Shino didn't say anything, but Naruto could feel that he was incredible anxious.

"Well, it doesn't matter," said Shikamaru. "I wonder what Sasuke is doing, and if he is even planning on coming."

"Confucius said, 'The wise do not approach the dangerous.' Perhaps this is a wise decision?" suggested Shino.

Naruto looked over at Shino for a moment before shaking his head in the negative. "No, Sasuke is too arrogant to recognize the dangerous." Naruto looked sideways at Gaara, who looked back at him. '_He better kill that avenger,'_ thought Naruto. '_Or at least savagely beat him into the ground.'_

"Ladies and gentlemen, the contestant for the next match hasn't arrived yet," announced Genma. "Therefore, we will push this match back and begin the next one."

"What? They are just going to forgive that bastard for not showing up?" said Naruto.

"Now the next match is Aburame Shino vs. Kankuro, please come down," said the examiner. Kankuro spared a glance at his sister before announcing that his withdrawal from the fight.

'_What the hell is going on here?'_ wondered Naruto. '_In the prelims that guy was aching to fight almost as much as Lee.'_

Temari instantly opened up her fan and floated down to the floor of the arena, anxiously waiting for her opponent. "Shikamaru get down here!" yelled Genma. Shikamaru was seriously thinking about quitting, when suddenly Naruto pushed him down wishing him good luck.

"Man, so troublesome…" said Shikamaru as he landed ungracefully on the ground.

"Get up kid!" yelled Temari. "How long are you going to lie there?"

'_Since nobody cares about this fight, then there is no reason to do it,'_ thought Shikamaru, wishing that he could just continue lying there and watching the clouds.

"If you won't come, then I will," said the Sand-nin and ran forward while opening her fan.

'_Aw man, it's another girl,'_ whined Shikamaru as he took out two kunai from his pouch and threw up at the wall. Temari blasted him with her wind attack, but Shikamaru had jumped up and landed on the two kunai he had thrown. "You know, I don't really want to fight and I don't care if I become chuunin or not," he paused. "But I'm not going to lose to a girl."

"**That guy has serious female issues,"** commented the Kyuubi. "**I wonder if he's gay."**

"What?" Naruto was so amazed that he even spoke out loud. "Does it really matter what gender your opponent is?" he covered quickly. '_You don't really mean that do you?'_ laughter was the only response.

Down below, Temari frowned at Shikamaru's reasoning and launched another wind attack at him. The Leaf-nin was able to run to safety before the attack hit.

'_Man, why do I always end up fighting women,'_ thought the lazy genin. He looked up at the sky with a longing look. '_Those clouds are so lucky, so free. More to the point, I don't feel like doing all this to begin with.'_

'_What the hell is he doing?'_ thought Temari. "Ninpou: Kamaitachi!" she yelled and sent a powerful windblast at Shikamaru's hiding place. Out of the smoke Temari saw a shadow heading her way and quickly leapt back. However, soon the shadow began to shrink and then receded. "Looks like there is a limit to how much you can stretch, shrink, and change the shape of your shadow, right?" analyzed the blond kunoichi.

Shikamaru sighed and put the tips of his fingers together into a hand position he uses when in deep thought. Temari waited for her opponent to finish whatever he was doing before attacking with the same wind attack. Shikamaru, meanwhile, hid behind a tree and took off his jacket. Shikamaru then used the parachute he made to lengthen his shadow and effectively get Temari over to where he really wanted her. Just as Temari hid behind her fan, Shikamaru caught her in the Kagemane no Jutsu, by using the hole that Naruto had dug with his Doton jutsu.

'_That's smart,'_ praised Naruto. '_Since I was so intent on getting below Neji, I didn't bother to fill in the hole I made when traveling underground. Well, a ninja should always be aware and use their surrounding to the fullest.'_ Shikamaru walked forward, thus making the Sand kunoichi walk forward too, then he raised his hand and simply forfeited.

Naruto's face dropped as he stared at the lazy genin in disbelief. '_He forfeited? Just like that?'_ Naruto only relaxed when Shikamaru explained that he was heavily drained from using the Kagemane no Jutsu continuously. "Well that makes sense," he said calmly. "Shikamaru's not a reckless fighter he knows his limits quite well."

"Winner: Temari!" declared the examiner.

Shikamaru slowly made his way up to the stands, since he had lost the match and didn't need to stay with the rest of the fighters. At the same time, Kakashi and Sasuke finally appeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Picking up Kakashi's bad habit, eh?" commented Naruto. "Next he'll be reading porn in public."

"You're lucky," said Genma. "The Hokage pushed this fight to the end, and the Uchiha has not been disqualified."

"That's good!" said Kakashi while rubbing the back of his head.

"Gaara, get down here!" yelled the examiner. Gaara had a completely insane look on his face as he started down the stairs. He walked out and stood in front of the Uchiha waiting as calmly as he could for the examiner to give the go ahead.

"Begin!" yelled Genma and jumped away from the combatants.

Gaara sand immediately flowed out of his gourd and rested on the ground next to the Sand-nin. Gaara clutched his head in pain once again, "Don't… get so angry," he said painfully. "Mother…" Up in the waiting room Naruto sighed after hearing the Kyuubi scoff. "I fed you some nasty blood earlier. I'm sorry… but this time it will be delicious," Gaara continued his monologue.

'_What's he talking about?'_ wondered Sasuke.

"Finally _conversation _has begun," said Kankuro. "This is bad."

"I've never seen Gaara like this before a fight," commented Temari. "Is he really that much of an opponent?" Naruto spared a glance at the two siblings, wondering if he should join the conversation, but decided against it when he remembered about Shino.

Suddenly Gaara's pain stopped and he said one word, "Come." Sasuke threw two shuriken at Gaara only to have them be caught by Gaara's Sand Bunshin. Half of the clone burst forward in an attack on the Uchiha, who responded by jumping above the sand. However, before he could attack again, he was forced to counter the shuriken Gaara's clone threw at him.

Sasuke then quickly battled with Gaara's clone, before attacking the real Gaara, and using Lee's taijutsu style and speed actually managed to punch Gaara in the face. Gaara armor of sand was chipped, but before he could rebuild it, the Uchiha was already in front of him and had kicked him in the face. Sasuke managed to kick Gaara a few more times before he had to pause to catch his breath.

Up in the stands both Gai and Lee were shocked that Sasuke was able to master Lee's taijutsu style in only a month, and to top it off, he was as fast as Lee without weights. However, Sasuke did not have the stamina required to keep up that speed for a long time. After all, physical properties have to be gained; they cannot be copied.

Gaara decided to go all out at that point and gathered all of his sand into a protective, impenetrable, sphere around himself. Sasuke tried attacking the sphere, but spikes would shoot out and hit Sasuke if he got close. Out of the little bits of sand floating around, Gaara opened the third eye, to keep track of what was happening outside.

'_What the hell is he doing?'_ wondered Naruto.

"**If I had to guess, I would say that he's going to weaken his seal and let Shukaku take control."**

'_What!?'_

"**It's probably a long and complicated process for which he needs absolute concentration,"** explained the fox. "**So he hides in that sphere, until he's done. However, what comes out is not human."**

'_Shukaku, of course,'_ gravely thought Naruto. '_Well, if that happens then there is no way Sasuke will be able to win.'_

Sasuke jumped backwards and landed on the far wall, '_I don't know what he's up to,'_ contemplated the Uchiha genius. '_But it's fine, since mine also takes some time.'_ With that Sasuke did several hand seals and grabbed his left hand, as if to stabilize it. In a few seconds an extremely loud noise was heard as the lightning-like jutsu activated.

"No way… is that?" asked Gai.

"The reason I trained Sasuke," explained Kakashi, "is because he is the same type as me."

"What the hell is that technique?" questioned Naruto. '_Damn it, I can tell that Kakashi is talking about it up in the stands, but I can't activate my heightened hearing with all this noise.'_

"**I believe it is called the Chidori,"** said the Kyuubi.

'_Huh? How do you know this?'_ asked Naruto.

"**Well, thinking back to that night I remember some little kid trying to come at me with something that sounded like the same horrible screeching noise we are hearing now,"** she lightly growled. "**I deflected him with one of my tails and sent him flying. He cut off some of my fur,"** she pouted. "**So I swung the same tail over the area I saw him land… must have killed several dozen shinobi, too bad I didn't get the perpetrator."** Naruto sweat-dropped at the last half of the explanation.

Sasuke raced up to Gaara's sphere and stabbed it as hard as he could. The most shocking thing being, that he actually cut through the sand. "No way!" said Kankuro in amazement. "Gaara's absolute defense has been…" he trailed off, not being able to believe it.

"**Absolute, my ass!"** yelled the demonic fox. "**I've penetrated that defense countless times, after all, its just sand. Now, that one shield he has…"** she trailed off.

'_Shield?'_ asked Naruto.

"**Yes, a shield made out of the toughest elements in the earth,"** she explained. "**He calls it the Shield of Shukaku, or something like that. The retard has a tendency to name everything after himself."**

"What is this warm stuff?" wondered Gaara. "BLOOD! MY BLOOD!" he screamed.

'_Don't make such a big deal out of it,'_ thought Naruto.

"**Shukaku would do the same thing. So like demon, like container… I guess."**

Sasuke tried to pull his hand out, but found that it was stuck. After several tries he finally added some chakra into the Chidori and thus was able to pull it out again. However, the thing that was grabbing his arm in the first place was some sort of clawed hand made out of sand that retreated back into the sphere when Sasuke was far enough away.

"It's _his_ arm," stuttered Kankuro. Naruto could have sworn the Sand-nin would wet his pants soon. The sphere cracked and Gaara came out holding onto his left shoulder, which was bleeding.

"**I see,"** said the fox seriously. "**So that's how it works."**

'_How what works?'_ inquired Naruto.

"**Quiet whelp!"** she ordered. "_**I wonder if I would be able to do the same thing. Then again our seals are different, and I don't have an element I actively use like Shukaku,"**_ she paused in her contemplating to explain to her container exactly what was happening. "**You saw that hand that came out of the sphere, right?"** Naruto nodded. "**Well, Shukaku uses sand to project his own demonic image onto Gaara's body. Meaning that while on the outside it looks like Shukaku, it is really nothing more than an object made out of sand to look like Shukaku. On the inside is the container's body who, I'm guessing, gives up control to Shukaku. Therefore the one in control of the sand-made Shukaku is Shukaku himself."**

'_That's pretty good,'_ said Naruto, slowly absorbing the information.

"**Yes, I might need to give him more credit in the brain department,"** she sneered. "_**It's times like these that I wish I had made one of my Supremacies active."**_ She paused and contemplated the issue further._** "Actually, I take back the credit. The boy loses more and more of his mind to Shukaku when he has to sleep. So eventually there will be no more human container, just Shukaku. Therefore, if he were to keep his container asleep long enough, he would be able to walk around freely. Albeit, in a human body, but one that he could change into his own. Well, he always did have a problem with putting two and two together."**_

Naruto watched as white feathers suddenly started falling in front of his eyes, '_What the hell is going on here?'_ he thought.

Kyuubi was instantly jerked out of her thoughts. "**Genjutsu! Cancel it now!"**

Naruto did as he was told, but watched as most of the people in the stadium fell asleep. Suddenly the place where the Hokage and the Kazekage were sitting filled with smoke. Four people burst out of the smoke and onto the rooftop, it looked like the Kazekage was holding the Hokage hostage and the other two people split apart into four and stood on the corners of the rooftop. Before the ANBU could even jump to help the Hokage, the four lackeys erected a dark purple chakra barrier.

The Sand team jumped down to the arena floor to stand beside Gaara. "Gaara, the plan…" said their jounin sensei. Gaara just groaned in pain. "Fool! Trying to transform into your complete form before the signal!"

"He's experiencing the side-effect," said Temari as she crouched down and examined him. "It's impossible to proceed now."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" yelled Kankuro.

Their teacher hesitated. "Abort the mission," the Sand genin were shocked. "You guys take Gaara and retreat."

"What about you?"

"I'll join the battle," he announced. "GO!" Temari and Kankuro leapt off, taking Gaara with them.

Naruto watched as the jounin examiner sent Sasuke after the Sand trio. '_They think they can escape that easily, do they?'_ thought Naruto sadistically. He climbed over the wall and followed the Uchiha.

After a little while Sasuke caught up with the Sand trio and was about to deal with Kankuro when Shino interfered and had Sasuke chase after Temari and Gaara, while he stayed to fight Kankuro. Naruto briefly observed the interaction, from his hiding point high above them, before following Gaara.

It wasn't a long journey before Gaara had Temari stop. He roughly pushed aside the female and glared at the pursuing Sasuke. "You, that is strong," started Gaara. "You, that has companions," the right side of his face started cracking and expanding. "You, that is like me. Once I kill you, I will be the one to have destroyed all of that. Only then can I survive; only then can I feel alive."

Gaara fell down to his knees as the right side his face and upper body transformed into that of Shukaku. Gaara quickly jumped forward and obliterated the tree branch that Sasuke had been standing on. "Are you afraid of me?" asked Gaara in a crazy voice.

'_Is he a monster?'_ wondered Sasuke.

"What's the matter, are you afraid of me, of my existence?" continued Gaara in a taunting voice. "Has your fear overtaken the hatred, the killing urge? Is your reason for existence as puny as that?"

Naruto watched the fight commence waiting for the right moment, namely when Sasuke was beaten, to interfere. "**He hasn't changed one bit,"** commented the fox. "**I haven't seen him in one hundred years, and he still arrogantly taunts his opponents trying to scare them with words; much like your previous opponent."**

'_Except this one's a demon.'_

"**Demon; human; essentially it is the same thing: a battle," **said Kyuubi nonchalantly. "**The only difference is the level at which you fight. You have a big advantage in this battle, you know?"**

'_I do?'_ asked Naruto. '_I know I have both Supremacies, but if Shukaku is in control then that doesn't necessarily give me an advantage.'_

"**No, you see, there is a conflict of interests between the demon and the container,"** she explained. "**The container, Gaara, does not want to transform. Therefore, Shukaku is constantly fighting with his container's consciousness for control; that weakens him. Even if the Shukaku is in control, he is still sitting inside the human's body, meaning that any Supremacy signal he must forcefully send out through a **_**human**_** chakra system."**

'_Oh, that's right, since he doesn't have the Supremacy tattoos his chakra system has not changed,'_ considered Naruto. '_So suddenly pushing demonic chakra through it, especially without the Supremacy activation code, would rip and burn it.'_

"**Precisely,"** concluded the demon fox. "**Once the chakra system is burned beyond use, the transformation ends and Gaara regains control. Since Shukaku does not have nearly as good of a healing factor as I do, the container's chakra system won't be fixed for at least three days."**

"_**Still, after thirteen years this human's mind should be easy taking,"**_ examined the Kyuubi. "_**So if he had just started changing the human chakra system into a demonic one, thirteen years ago, Shukaku would have been walking around in a human form by now. Well, I'm not going to be telling him this, since I have no such chance. Best that he live with his own folly."**_

Sasuke charged up the Chidori once more and sliced Gaara's arm in half, but after a short cry of pain, the demon container began to laugh. The sand quickly reformed into the bestial arm, as if nothing happened. Not only that, but he also grew a tail. Gaara charged at Sasuke once more, but with the Sharingan, Sasuke was able to read the Sand-nin's movements and dodge.

The Uchiha survivor tried to use a Katon jutsu against Gaara, but it was easily blocked since it was not high-level enough to turn the sand into glass. Naruto noticed that Sasuke was quickly approaching his limit and got ready to jump in. Sasuke activated a third Chidori, but it failed halfway through, that is before his Curse Seal started to spread and he managed to almost completely sever Gaara's transformed arm. However, he was down on the ground in pain right after.

Gaara made a rush at the downed Sasuke and hit the branch the Uchiha was laying on, sending Sasuke falling down to the ground. However, Sasuke was quickly caught by Sakura, who had arrived only a few moments earlier.

'_What the hell is she doing here?'_ growled Naruto, because now he could not go all out with Gaara. '_I could kill them and say Gaara did it before I got there…'_ he contemplated, but decided it would be a lot more troublesome that way.

Sakura instantly started looking over Sasuke's wounds, before finally looking over at Sasuke's opponent and screaming. Gaara laughed and launched himself at the couple, only to be roughly pushed back by a kick to the head.

"Uzumaki… Naruto…" he said slowly as he got up.

"Looks like your automated sand shield doesn't work when Shukaku starts coming out," stated Naruto. "Is he having too much trouble pushing back your consciousness?" mocked the blond genin. Gaara's eyes narrowed, this boy knew too much about what was going on inside his head.

"Sakura, what the hell do you think you're doing here?" demanded Naruto.

"We came to help Sasuke," she answered fearfully.

"Help? We?" questioned Naruto sarcastically. "Who you and that little doggy?"

"Hey, don't call me little," said the dog.

Naruto didn't pay attention, "Do you really think you even stand a chance against Gaara? Tell me, how are you going to fight him, huh?" Naruto started raising his voice in frustration. "Are you as fast as Lee? Do you know as much ninjutsu as Kakashi? Or are you going to try and trap a demonic mind inside a human-made genjutsu?"

Sakura didn't know what to say; of course she could not stand up to Gaara. If Sasuke-kun couldn't beat him then how could she? She knew the truth; she knew that she would be killed. "What about you?" she yelled. "Can you take him on? Even Sasuke was defeated."

"Shut up!" snarled Naruto. "You are nothing but a liability right now. Stay with your oh-so precious _Sasuke-kun_ and don't try any heroics. If you die because of your own stupidity, don't expect me to mourn you."

Shock and disappointment was written all over Sakura's face. She dejectedly lowered her gaze and tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to come out. Naruto, the kindest person she knew, had just told her off. She never thought it would hurt so much, but here she was, trying to overcome the painful truth that she was too weak to even try and help out Naruto while he battled with a monster.

Just as Naruto was about to turn back and face Gaara, he felt the said monster passing right by him and heading straight towards Sakura and Sasuke. '_Oh great,'_ thought Naruto. '_And Sakura isn't even getting up to run.'_ Naruto watched as Gaara pinned Sakura to a tree. "I thought I said no heroics, Sakura, now look at what kind of mess you got yourself into."

Gaara transformed further, only leaving his feet in their normal state. "She won't be released until you defeat me!" declared the half monster. Gaara crossed his arms and shot out sand shuriken at Naruto.

"Suiton: Suijinheki," said Naruto after doing a couple hand seals (Water Barrier). Naruto pulled out the water from his body and shot it out of his mouth. A wall of water surrounded Naruto and blocked the shuriken.

"What's wrong, afraid of me?" insulted Gaara.

Naruto's eyes narrowed and he decided to release his chakra mask. Temari and the dog's eyes widened. '_This is what that blond kid was concealing?'_ wondered the Sand kunoichi. '_No wonder Gaara took an interest in him.'_ Within a moment Naruto's chakra changed and took a much more haunting feel. '_What is this feeling? He feels sort of like Gaara.'_

Naruto raised his left hand and up to eye level and showed off his claws to Gaara. He then raised his head and looked into Shukaku's eyes with the Kyuubi's red irises blazing. "You remember these eyes, don't you?" he smirked darkly and disappeared from his position.

If Shukaku had any doubts as to who he was facing, they were erased when he looked into those eyes. He remembered all right; he remembered being thrown about as a rag doll by that nine-tailed bitch. He had been a high-lord in the Tanuki Clan, but was captured during a raid on the Fox Clan. The head of the Fox Clan, Kyuubi, had forced him into servitude. Him, a lord, had been forced to his knees and had to bow down to his sworn enemies. He had tried to honorably take his own life many times, but the foxes had some of the best medics in all of Makai. They would not let him off the hook so easily.

His liberation came only eight hundred years prior, when he was thrown onto the human plane. While being disappointed about where he ended up, he was overjoyed that he wouldn't have to deal with foxes anymore. However, only seven hundred years had passed before he was once again forced to face-off against a fox; the Kyuubi, who had just been dropped out of Makai. He was sure victory was his, since he had more experience in the human plane, especially with the Supremacies. But the Kyuubi didn't even bother going through his defenses and simply went around them to nearly maul him completely, using only her speed and agility. To say that he was pissed was an understatement, and the fact that she just left him to die without finishing him made it even worse.

Now he would be able to destroy her, he would finally have his revenge. He knew the Kyuubi could not manifest through the Doton like he could, so her container would be crushed when he transformed into his true form. Oh yes, he would have fun torturing that bitch to death. He increased the strain on his container's mind needing to get free faster.

Naruto appeared right behind Gaara and kicked him in the head at the same time that he made two Kage Bunshin. The clone on his right pulled him down while the clone on his left continued pounding Gaara. Naruto, meanwhile, had taken out a kunai and tied an explosive note to it. He stuck the kunai right next to Gaara's tail and jumped away.

Just like Kyuubi had said, the attack slowed down the monster, because that was one of the most painful weak points on a tanuki's body. '_Thank you, Kyu,'_ said Naruto and jumped at Gaara once again, using the smoke created by the explosion as cover. In mid-air Naruto activated his Suiton Supremacy and did three hand seals, "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu," he whispered (Water Dragon).

Gaara tried to block the dragon by hitting it as hard as he could, in hopes of destroying it. However, the dragon just twisted its body and went around Gaara's defense to slam right into him. The attack was not meant to break Gaara, but rather to soak him in water, making him slower. So that when Naruto, and several dozen clones, attacked him with taijutsu Gaara could not respond fast enough and was knocked around by the Leaf-nin before finally being sent into the ground at an incredible pace.

Gaara instantly got angry, his mind aligned with Shukaku's, and quickly transformed into the demon's true form, which was as big as Gamabunta. The demon tried to squash Naruto with his giant paw, but Naruto jumped away while biting his thumb. Several seconds later, a cloud the size of Shukaku appeared and out of it emerged Naruto on the head of a giant toad.

"Hey, you again?" asked Gamabunta. "What do you want?"

"You to fight of course," answered Naruto as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Gamabunta looked ahead of him at the tanuki, '_If I remember correctly, that is Shukaku of the Sands… this is going to be a troublesome battle,'_ he decided to have some fun with his summoner. "You know, we haven't sealed our agreement, over sake, yet."

"That's your own fault for leaving so early last time," countered Naruto. "Now, getting back to the matter at hand, we need to handicap him. How about you use that sword and cut off an arm or a leg from the monster?"

"You want me to charge in and cut him up?" asked the toad incredulously.

"I summoned you, hence I am your master," said Naruto, and as an afterthought flashed his demonic chakra. "Or would you like to have a matching scar on your right eye?"

Gamabunta twitched slightly. This kid actually had the guts to threaten him? Then again he had the guts to stand up to the nine-tailed demon inside of him, or so the toad assumed, either way the boy had experience standing up to creatures that were many times more powerful than him.

"All right, hold on tight!" yelled the boss toad as he charged the tanuki. Gamabunta only managed one sword swing before his sword was knocked away and he was sent flying back, but he did manage to cut off Gaara's right arm.

Gaara rose out of Shukaku's shell to appear on the tanuki's head. "Thank you for keeping me entertained so far," he said with his hands in a seal. "Now you'll see the true powers of the Sand Demon."

"**Be advised, he's going to force himself to sleep and thus let out Shukaku."**

'_And you say that so calmly?'_ commented Naruto.

"So that's the medium," said Gamabunta. "That medium shows signs of insomnia. Those that become possessed by the Shukaku can't even get a decent night's sleep."

"It is because of the terror," said Naruto calmly. "If they sleep their mind is eaten away by the Shukaku."

"How do you know all this?" questioned the boss toad.

"Kyuubi told me," was the simple, yet frightening answer.

"Spell of Fake Sleep," announced Gaara and hung limp.

"I'm finally out!" yelled Shukaku. "And there's someone I want to kill right off!" Without hesitating, Shukaku activated his Fuiton Supremacy and hit himself in the stomach once. "Renku Dan!" an air bullet shot out of Shukaku's mouth, but Gamabunta was prepared and had already jumped over it.

"Suiton: Teppo Dama," said the toad and shot two water bullets down at Shukaku. However, the demon countered with three air bullets, the last one was obscured from view by the explosion created out of the collision of the water and air bullets.

"This is bad, there is still one left!" cried Naruto. Sensing that the toad could do nothing about it, Naruto activated his Suiton Supremacy and made a large horizontal plate of water right under Gamabunta. The air bullet hit the plate and exploded, but did not hit the boss toad.

"How did you do that?" inquired Gamabunta.

"It doesn't matter," replied the Leaf-nin. "We don't have time for idle talk."

"Right," he said somewhat uncertainly. "We need to rough up that medium kid, so that the spell breaks."

"You mean you want me to get onto Shukaku and beat the crap out of Gaara?" asked Naruto already knowing the answer.

"Yes, but I am a toad, I don't have fangs or claws to stop him, so I'll need you to use the Henge no Jutsu to transform me into something that does."

Naruto prepared the necessary amount of chakra, "All right, tell me when."

Gamabunta ran up closer to Shukaku and gave Naruto the signal. Immediately Naruto channeled a large amount of chakra and transformed himself and the boss toad into the Kyuubi.

Shukaku was startled. He had been absolutely positive that the Kyuubi could not manifest itself, and here he was looking straight at his arch-nemesis. Before Shukaku had a chance to move, the fox grabbed him with its paws and teeth and kept him in place. As quickly as the Kyuubi had appeared it also disappeared when Naruto jumped off of Gamabunta to punch Gaara.

The Shukaku had only now figured out what had really happened and was very angry at being tricked by the Kyuubi, again. But he could not do anything as at that exact moment his container woke up and he was forced back into the seal.

Gaara's eyes snapped open and he instinctively tried to hold Naruto by wrapping sand around his feet, but Naruto was quick to react and activate his Supremacy. The blond shinobi dodged the sand this way and that as he made his way towards Gaara once again. On the home stretch, Naruto pumped chakra into his feet and using a very fast crisscross pattern ended up right next to Gaara.

Naruto's claws ripped through Gaara's clothes and into his flesh. The Sand-nin gasped and fell down holding the right side of his chest, which was bleeding profusely. Shukaku's sand shell crumpled immediately and the two genin were left to fall onto the tops of the trees below. Gamabunta left as soon as Shukaku had crumpled.

"We are the same, you and I," said Gaara, breathing heavily. The two demon containers had landed on treetops and were eyeing each other cautiously. They both jumped at each other knowing that this was the final attack of the battle. Naruto skillfully blocked Gaara's punch and smashed his fist into the Sand-nin's face. Gaara landed heavily on the ground below, while Naruto landed a little ways away from him in a crouch.

Although he may not have looked it, Naruto was very tired. He had never used the Kyuubi's chakra that much. Since he had completely drained his own when summoning Gamabunta, Naruto was forced to rely on his other chakra for the rest of the battle. The blond shinobi knew that he would pass out if he didn't have chakra circulating right now, so he kept one of his Supremacies activated, thus limiting the demonic chakra to demonic pathways.

Naruto stood up and slowly made his way over to Gaara. "My existence won't be put out!" screamed the Sand-nin. "It won't be put out!"

"Stop being so melodramatic," calmly said Naruto.

"Don't come closer!" he ordered.

"Why not?" asked Naruto. "I just want to chat with you a little." Gaara stared at him blankly. "We don't have a lot of time, you and I, those teammates of mine will come here soon; and so will yours."

Naruto sat down next to the Sand shinobi and dropped his emotional mask, revealing his sad eyes to Gaara. "You see, I know what you have to go through better than anyone else."

"Then, how come you are stronger?" asked Gaara. "How come you don't kill them all?"

"Because, getting revenge now is not as glorifying," explained Naruto. "Would you agree that being backstabbed is a lot more painful? Oh yes, of course you would. You and I know exactly what that feels like. So if you really want them to suffer pain close to yours, you must be in their trust and only after that can you destroy them."

"Then why did you not let me kill the Uchiha?"

"The time has not yet come, and he is _my_ kill not yours," sharply replied Naruto. "And to answer your first question about my strength: well, you have to fight for someone. You have to fight in order to protect someone close to you. For you it is a lot easier than for me," seeing Gaara's questioning look he elaborated. "Your brother and sister, Gaara, they care for you. Your brother might want to piss his pants every time he thinks about Shukaku, but they were always there for you, were they not? Think about that, and don't always listen to your demon, I hear from my own that Shukaku can be quite the idiot."

"I will… think about it… as you said," replied the Sand-nin slowly.

"Good, and then maybe you will have enough psychological and emotional strength to force the sand rat to teach you something." Gaara's eyes widened, he had never even entertained the thought of learning something from his burden. "After all, he needs you to let him out. If he refuses you can always put a No-Sleep Seal on yourself, and then he wouldn't be able to do anything."

"Those actually exist?" asked Gaara in amazement.

"Of course, they are sometimes used in torture," explained Naruto. "Ask the Sand's torture and interrogation specialist when you get back." Naruto looked to the side for a second before talking again. "Seems our chatting time is over," concluded Naruto and fell silent as Sasuke walked up to him.

Sasuke had gotten up when Naruto summoned the boss toad, and had watched the battle in absolute awe because of what his supposedly 'dead last' teammate could do. "That's enough, Naruto," he said. "Sakura is all right now and this guy has run out of chakra."

A moment later Temari and Kankuro landed next to Gaara, ready to fight if need be. "That's enough, stop it," ordered Gaara.

"I understand," said Kankuro and picked up his brother. '_This is the first time I have seen him completely exhausted.'_

Gaara and Naruto exchanged one last look before the former was carried away by his family. '_Well, I can rest now,'_ thought Naruto and released Kyuubi's chakra. He passed out instantly, leaving Sasuke with the tedious task of carrying him and Sakura to the hospital.

"Temari, Kankuro," said Gaara slowly. "I'm sorry…"

The older siblings looked at each other then at Gaara in shock and amazement. "It's… it's nothing," reassured Kankuro.

* * *

-Clears throat- Well that was 39 manga chapters right there. Albeit, I didn't mention the Hokage vs. Orochimaru battle, but why recount the manga?  
I actually had a lot of fun writing the last half of this. I am just so tired of having to copy the manga, especially if it's word for word.

This was the first of the transition-arc chapters, where my storytelling starts to really veer away from the manga. You'll see a lot more of this next chapter, when Naruto is actually out of the village and feels that his charades aren't too needed. Oh yea, and the Akatsuki make their first appearance... hehehe...  
Final note: DON'T ask me for a yaoi pairing with Shikamaru! That was a joke and should be treated as such.

Next chapter: Tsunade Mission (all the way through) and someone gets introduced...


	8. Obscure Legends

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Thank you to all my reviewers!

"blah" speech  
"_blah_" thoughts  
"**blah**" Kyuubi's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Kyuubi's thoughts

Shelly - Remember that the Leaf-nin only see Naruto at face value. None of them try to look beyond the surface, nor can most of them see past the Kyuubi.

madnarutofan - Umm, this isn't ANC... Kyuubi is like a sister that's not related by blood... -chuckle- more of an 'other'

**As of 9/23/08**: Added a scene between the Ancient and Zeph. Changed the reason for the fight between Naruto and Tsunade.

* * *

Chapter 8 – Obscure Legends

Two days after the battle everyone in the shinobi ranks was paying their respects to the fallen Sandaime Hokage. Beside Naruto, Iruka was comforting a crying little boy. Although Naruto didn't particularly care for the old man, and rather despised him at times, he was still saddened and disappointed that the old man had died.

"**Worried the next Hokage won't let you get away with as much shit?"** asked the fox.

'_Partly,'_ replied Naruto. '_I guess now that I'm looking at his life overall, at least the last part when I knew him, he's not all that bad. I mean he may not have controlled the villagers much, but it's not like he let them kill me, you know?'_

"**I understand,"** she softly replied. "**I still think you're letting the gloomy atmosphere affect you too much."**

'_This ceremony _is_ taking too long… and we are doing nothing but standing here,'_ complained Naruto. He suddenly noticed the crowd start to disperse. '_Wait, we could have left whenever we wanted? Why don't people tell me these things?'_

The Kyuubi chuckled, "**But you still wouldn't have left first; it would have drawn too much attention."**

'_True, but still…'_ thought Naruto as he walked away, heading back to his apartment. On the way there he decided to stop by the ramen place and get a bowl, or ten. '_If you get the right flavor and get it cooked well, it's actually not so bad.'_ Naruto had only gotten through half a bowl when Jiraiya sat down right next to him. "Ero-Sennin," said Naruto and chuckled mentally at Jiraiya's frown.

"Hey listen Naruto, how would you like to go on a business trip with me?" asked the toad sannin as soon as the genin finished eating.

"A business trip you say," restated Naruto. "Why should I go on a business trip with a perverted sannin?"

"Because it is a paid-for trip, and we're supposed to find a girl," Jiraiya tried to bribe the boy. "It is also a special trip; we'll stop by the red light district in Hima. You'll learn a lot more than what Kakashi has taught you."

'_Stupid pervert, thinking he can bribe me with beautiful girls,'_ thought Naruto. "That kind of stuff won't work on me."

"And also this woman, she's hot!" continued Jiraiya. "And she wants to meet you."

"Unlikely," thought Naruto out loud. "But… I will still go with you."

Jiraiya had thought he would have to resort to the boy's rivalry with the Uchiha, but was pleasantly surprised when the boy accepted the invitation on his own. "All right, go pack and meet me at the main gate in an hour." Naruto nodded and ran off to his apartment.

An hour later the two were already traveling down a dirt road in absolute silence, with the exception of their footsteps. '_This trip will be a complete waste of time if I don't bug this guy for jutsus,'_ thought Naruto and prepared to use his mask. '_Wait a second, do I even need to use it? I mean I could just show him my calm and collected side, and since we are out the village there will no one to compare the "old me" and the "new me."'_

"Hey, Ero-Sennin, could you teach me a jutsu?" asked Naruto.

'_Ero-Sennin,'_ Jiraiya frowned. "Don't you know what kind of amazing person I am?" Jiraiya went off on a long spiel about himself, in hopes of having Naruto not call him by such an embarrassing name anymore.

"That's nice," said Naruto. "In that case, I'm sure you know more jutsus than most anyone in Konoha, so you could at least teach me one of them." Jiraiya grumbled and told Naruto to wait at least until the next town, claiming he needed to think about what to teach him.

From a high branch of a nearby tree watched a solitary figure. It blended in with its surrounding like a chameleon and masked its presence completely. "Soon I will meet you," the figure said in a male voice. "Knowing Jiraiya he will leave you alone for extended periods of time." He then jumped up to the top of the tree to look at the two Akatsuki members in the distance. "Noted…" he disappeared, leaving no trace he was ever there.

Naruto and Jiraiya soon reached a small town and picked out an inn to stay the night. As soon as Jiraiya finished paying, a beautiful woman caught his eye and he literally threw Naruto the keys, told the genin to refine his chakra control, and ran after her. Naruto also found her pretty cute, but not even close to the Kyuubi.

"**Glad you think that way,"** said the Kyuubi sweetly. "**You know, I never have time to give you your thirteenth birthday present."** Naruto's face took on a reddish tint because of the fox's tone.

'_This is really not conducive for my meditation,'_ said Naruto.

"**Think of this as training to clear your mind of **_**everything**_**,"** she said.

'_You make these things so much more difficult with that _adult_ stuff.'_

"**Adult?"** asked Kyuubi innocently. "**You can get married at sixteen, so someone three years younger shouldn't be completely clueless about it."**

Naruto grumbled, knowing that he would not be able to meditate calmly. Just then he heard a knock on the door, '_What he's already been rejected?'_ laughed Naruto. He opened the door and looked up to find a man in a black cloak with red clouds staring down at him with his Sharingan eyes. '_Who the hell?'_ wondered Naruto. '_The whole Uchiha clan was destroyed by… oh…'_ he realized who it was as soon as he noticed the slashed Leaf forehead protector.

"Could this child really be the Kyuubi?" asked another voice. This man was taller, his blue shark-like face was even complete with what looked like gills, and the huge wrapped sword strapped to his back did not bode well for the blond. Naruto's eyes widened at the mention of the nine-tails.

"Uchiha Itachi, am I correct?" asked Naruto.

Itachi was surprised that the boy knew him, but nodded in confirmation. "Naruto-kun, we would like you to come with us," he stated.

"To where exactly?"

"Come out of the room," ordered the Sharingan user.

'_What the hell?'_ wondered the blond. '_There is no way I can take these guys on, they even feel too strong.'_ Naruto slowly came out of the room, while his brain was racing for escape plans.

"Itachi-san, it's time we got started," said the shark man and reached for his sword. "We don't need him running off, so we should cut off a leg."

Naruto narrowed his eyes and mentally awoke Kyuubi. '_Kyu, some help here please?'_

"**How the hell did you end up on the opposite side of S-Class shinobi!?"** she yelled.

'_S-Class… they just came for me,'_ he replied.

"**Well, they obviously came for **_**me**_**, and to them you are in the way,"** she explained. "**I hate to say this, but you'll have to rely on that pervert. I won't be able to fight two S-Class shinobi, through your body, and win."**

'_Great, and he ran off with a girl,'_ cursed Naruto. '_It's strange, but I have a feeling that nothing bad will happen.'_

Naruto suddenly felt another presence behind Itachi, and apparently so did Itachi. "It has been a while, Sasuke," he said calmly.

"Uchiha Itachi," said Sasuke.

"Indeed today is a special day," said the shark man, turning sideways. "This is the second time I've seen another Sharingan."

"I will kill you!" declared Sasuke.

"You seem to be familiar with Itachi," said Kisame. "Who is this guy?"

"He is my… younger brother," said Itachi and turned to face Sasuke.

"I heard the entire Uchiha clan was wiped out… by you," said Kisame.

'_Damn, they look alike,'_ thought Naruto. '_But Sasuke is lacking the third pinwheel in his Sharingan. His arrogance will get him beat, if not killed, this battle.'_

"I've lived hating you and I have lived only to kill you," said Sasuke before yelling a battle cry and charging up his Chidori.

Sasuke charged straight at Itachi, thinking that since it was a hallway Itachi had nowhere to run. However, a split second before the Chidori was to pierce the elder Uchiha, Itachi grabbed Sasuke's hand by the wrist neutralizing the attack; in the process, blowing up the wall next to them. Itachi didn't hesitate to break Sasuke's wrist, making sure the Chidori would not be used again.

In an alleyway on the other side of town a tall man dressed in all white leaned up against the wall looking into what seemed to be a mirror. "About time I give the idiot a clue," he mumbled. Looking into a shop on the opposite side of the street, he narrowed an eye at the black-haired vixen that was with Jiraiya. The effects were immediate, Jiraiya instantly canceled the genjutsu that had been placed over her and ran with her back to the inn. The stranger smirked and the mirror in his hand fell through his fingers as it turned into sand.

With both missing-nins' back to him, Naruto decided he might as well try to retaliate against them. He started gathering a load of Kyuubi's chakra to activate his Doton Supremacy and use a rapid succession of earth based offenses and defenses, in order to provide himself a means of escape. However, right after he activated the Supremacy he lost all of the chakra he had been gathering. '_What the hell just happened!?'_ he cried.

Naruto looked up and noticed Kisame's sword was vibrating. "My Samehada eats up chakra," explained that shark man. "Now that your jutsu is gone you shouldn't be much trouble. Now, should I cut off a leg or should I cut off an arm?" Kisame raised his sword and was going to bring it down on Naruto.

The boy started to panic, "**Stop! Stop it now!"** ordered the Kyuubi. "**Now look, you still have your own chakra, so just do a simple Doton barrier and get the hell out of here."**

Naruto refocused and gathered charka much faster than last time. He slammed his hands down on the ground at the same time that a toad appeared in front of him. The toad ended up blocking the blow while the wall came up right after to stand between Naruto and the toad.

Jiraiya appeared behind Naruto and said something about getting girls being his specialty, which no one there really believed, and went off on a spiel about how great he was; again. Jiraiya and Kisame chatted for a bit about the Akatsuki duo's plan to distract Jiraiya with the woman, but that they weren't really expecting it to work. What really caught Naruto's attention was when Jiraiya confirmed that Itachi and Kisame were indeed after Naruto.

"No wonder Kakashi knew about this," said Itachi. "You were his source of information."

Jiraiya grimaced, '_So they had a run in with the copycat in Konoha. They mobilized faster than I had expected.'_

"To abduct Naruto, those were the orders given to us by the higher echelons of our organization, Akatsuki," stated Itachi.

'_Dawn…'_ thought Naruto. '_Dawn of what?'_

"**Dawn of the new world order, what else could power-hungry humans be after?"**

"You won't get Naruto," declared Jiraiya right as his summoning disappeared.

"And why not?"

"Because right now, right here, you two will die by my hand."

"This guy is mine!" seethed Sasuke as he unsteadily got up.

"I have absolutely no interest in you right now," said the elder Uchiha.

"Naruto! I told you, don't!" screamed Sasuke.

'_I'm not going to get into your family affairs,'_ thought Naruto.

"This fight is mine!" seethed Sasuke, the anger and hate absolutely blinking him. "Come at me!"

Itachi effortlessly kicked his brother into the wall at the end of the hall, and with lightning speed was in front of the younger Uchiha and had punched him in the stomach. Just as Sasuke was going to fall, Itachi kneed him in the face and grabbed the genin by the throat.

"No mercy at all," commented Kisame.

Itachi momentarily closed his eyes before reopening them against with the Mangekyou blazing. Sasuke screamed from having to watch his parents get killed all over again.

"Itachi, I would advise you not to use your eyes so many times in a single day," warned Kisame.

Naruto simply looked on wondering exactly what it was that Itachi was doing to Sasuke. As far as he knew the Sharingan did not have the ability to inflict this kind of pain. '_He mind be using some sort of advanced form of genjutsu,'_ contemplated Naruto.

"**He is, it's called the Mangekyou Sharingan,"** explained Kyuubi. "**I believe the technique he's using right now is called Tsukiyomi."** She went on to explain the technique in detail to Naruto.

Jiraiya quickly performed a list of seals and slammed his palms into the floor. "Ninpou: Gama Guchi Shibari," he said (Toad Mouth Bind). "Too bad, Itachi and Kisame, you are already inside my stomach."

The two Akatsuki members found themselves being enveloped in Jiraiya jutsu. They stated running away while the walls were closing in on them. Itachi closed his eyes and performed a black-fire jutsu to burn their way out.

Naruto slowly approached the black flames to get a better look. "What the hell is this black flame?" he wondered.

"Idiot! Don't get closer to it!" yelled Jiraiya. The sannin quickly unrolled a scroll and scribbled on it until he had a sealing scroll ready. "Fuujin: Seal Fire Highest Rank!" he yelled. Jiraiya quickly rolled up the scroll and tied it tightly. "All right, everyone okay after that?"

"Sasuke," said Naruto and walked over to his beaten up teammate. The Uchiha was slumped down against the wall with a completely blank stare. Just then, Gai flew in and kicked Jiraiya right in the head. He apologized, of course, saying it was an accident, but the sannin still looked somewhat pissed. Naruto soon found out, from their conversation, that Kakashi had also suffered from this same jutsu, and he also received some more information about the person that he and Jiraiya were supposed to find. '_One of The Three nins like him, huh? So basically we're searching for a fifty-some year old hag.'_

Jiraiya bade Gai to take Sasuke back to the village, while he and Naruto went off to find Tsunade. Gai also tried to give Naruto the same green jumpsuit that he and Lee wear, but the blond politely refused the god-awful thing. As they were walking down the road to the next town Jiraiya noticed Naruto in deep thought.

"What is it?" he asked concerned.

"Ero-Sennin, those Akatsuki guys are after me because of the Kyuubi, aren't they?"

"The nine-tails is a monster that has been appearing age after age;" explained Jiraiya "A monstrous demon hell-bent of destruction."

"**He could have put it in more elegant terms,"** pouted the fox.

"As for why those guys would want the Kyuubi, I really don't know," the sannin lowered his head. "But since you have the Kyuubi sealed within you, I guess they are trying to find a way to harness and control its powers."

"**Control me… Bah!"** sneered Kyuubi. "**I am my own mistress."**

"Those guys will keep trying to get you. It is a destiny you'll have to face up to," said the old man. "But when that happens I'll be there to protect you so don't worry."

"That's why I have to stronger!" exclaimed Naruto. "And why you _have to_ teach me a really powerful jutsu!"

'_This kid bounces back really fast,'_ thought Jiraiya, then noticed the questioning look on Naruto's face. "What?"

"This lady we are searching for, is the Tsunade that Gai was talking about," stated Naruto, and Jiraiya nodded slightly surprised by his insightfulness. "If she is one of the people like you, then she must be over fifty years old."

"That's right."

"We are searching for an old hag," confirmed Naruto dejectedly. "Hey, what is this old hag Tsunade like?"

"Well, she's kind of annoying," said Jiraiya.

'_That's the first thing he thinks of when describing her?'_

"She is a compulsive gambler, and well known in a lot of countries," Jiraiya explained further.

"Then she'll be pretty easy to find if she's famous."

"Oh yea, she's famous all right," said Jiraiya. "She's known as the Legendary Sucker."

Naruto face-faulted, '_Legendary Sucker, you say? So she must lose a whole lot.'_ Jiraiya then explained how Tsunade often hides her appearance behind a special genjutsu, and that even though she's fifty, she could look like a twenty year old. '_She changes her appearance to get away from gambling debts,'_ Naruto sighed. "That's not very good at all."

"Tsunade, as a kid loved to gamble more than anything else. Unfortunately, she sucked at it in both luck and skill."

"So how are we going to find her," interrupted Naruto before Jiraiya went off on a rant.

"Since we are on foot, there are all these ways."

"So basically, you don't know how long this is going to take," said Naruto dryly.

"We don't have too much time to spare, since we'll be spending most of out time on the journey on you," said Jiraiya. At the genin's questioning look Jiraiya elaborated. "We're going to power you up kid, it's training time!"

"Well then, what are you going to teach me?"

"Don't get too fired up, we still need to gather information about Tsunade," said the sannin. "In this town," Jiraiya pointed to the town they were overlooking. "There is a festival going on right now, so you can do whatever you want until it's over."

"If you're going to go to the red light district, go already, I don't care," said Naruto flatly.

"You have enough money?" asked Jiraiya.

"I brought a bit."

"Show me," asked the old man.

"No," was the calm reply.

"You don't trust your own teacher?"

"It's _my_ money; I don't trust anyone with it, but myself."

"Did you know that money is one of the 'Three Sins' that shinobi are forbidden to do?" asked the sannin matter-of-factly. Naruto just stared at the old man. "The Three Sins: money, alcohol, and women."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "And exactly what do _you_ do in the red light district?"

"Don't change the subject!" yelled Jiraiya. He quickly handed Naruto his bag in case the boy got lost, then the toads could track him. Jiraiya promised to collect information about Tsunade and ran off.

'_Great…'_ thought Naruto. '_I may as well enjoy myself.'_ Naruto walked around the festival, playing some games, not really caring to win the prizes since they were on a mission. Finally he bought some food and went off to find the perverted old man. '_I can hear the guy from half a block away; he really has absolutely no tact.'_

Naruto looked in to where Jiraiya's voice had been coming from and saw the old man sitting on a large couch with a woman on each side. '_Yup, definitely breaking his own "Three Sins" law.'_

"Oh Naruto, how'd it go at the festival?"

"Dandy," said Naruto in a low voice, while his upper lip quivered. "I'll be safe to assume you didn't get the information, right?" he asked in the same tone.

Jiraiya could sense the anger rolling off of Naruto. "N-Naruto calm down. This really isn't what it looks like."

"I'm sure," said Naruto and turned to leave, but bumped into some man in a trench coat.

"Look what you did brat!" yelled the man. "You put a stain on a designed jacket!" Naruto looked up at the man and said nothing. "This is an expensive type of clothing, I expect you to give me a hundred thousand for it!"

"Go fuck yourself," said Naruto coldly. "That shit isn't even worth a thousand." Jiraiya got up and agreed with Naruto.

"What did you say you bastard?" the man continued yelling. "I'm a legendary chuunin from the Stone village. I'll show you what real pain is!"

"Naruto, pay close attention!" said Jiraiya authoritatively. "I'll show you a jutsu you'll be learning soon." Jiraiya held out his right hand and chakra started gathering on top of his palm into a blue sphere. Jiraiya then took the chakra ball, while it was still gathering that shoved it into the chuunin's stomach, forcing the man to fly out of the room and across the street.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise and delight. '_I'm going to be learning that?'_ he wondered. "Cool!" he said with a smile.

Jiraiya bought some water balloons and had Naruto follow him to the outskirts of town. There he explained that Naruto was to blow up the water balloon by only using his chakra, but for the beginning stage Naruto would only have to make the water in the balloon spin.

"Making it spin, huh?" mumbled the genin.

"**Don't use your Supremacy for this,"** reminded the Kyuubi.

'_Of course not, I understand that.'_ Still Naruto had to think about how to get the water to spin. '_It would be the same basic principle, add chakra to the water and make it go wherever you want.'_ The blond shinobi concentrated on making the water spin and because of his earlier practice with Suiton jutsus could easily make the water spin.

"Hey, Ero-Sennin, I did it!" yelled Naruto to the sleeping old man. "I got the water to spin."

Jiraiya grumbled about having his rest interrupted. "Good now try to break it, and don't disturb me while I sleep."

Naruto frowned, but continued his training. After an hour of only being able to stretch the balloon this way and that, Naruto stopped to think what he was missing. He was successfully making the water spin, but no matter how much he stretched the balloon, it would not break. "Why?"

Jiraiya woke up and explained to Naruto about the direction of chakra flow and that he had to spin the water in the direction opposite to that of his own chakra rotation. '_But I'm already doing that, there is something he is not telling me, the key to this whole exercise.'_

"**Right, he is hiding the key from you,"** reaffirmed the fox. "**And no, I won't give you the answer. This is an exercise you need to figure out on your own."** Naruto pouted, even Kyu-chan wouldn't tell him anything. "**I will tell you that everything you need to know, you already know, but have just not realized it and have not put it to use."**

"This is a jutsu the Yondaime left behind," added Jiraiya. "It took him three years to perfect it. To truly appreciate the degree of difficulty of this jutsu, he was six grades above the second; an A-Rank ultra high grade level." Naruto stared at the old man in awe. "In order to comprehend the technique, you need at least third grade level jutsu. The water balloon is the first stage."

After that the old man left and Naruto continued trying to break the balloon, but kept failing. '_She said I know everything,'_ mused Naruto. '_So let's start at the beginning.'_ He was supposed to spin the water using his chakra in the direction opposite his own chakra rotation. That he was doing correctly, that meant he was missing something else, but what? That is really all Jiraiya talked about. Suddenly a light bulb went off in Naruto's head. He hadn't considered what Jiraiya had showed him. '_Come to think of it, his water balloon was going in all different direction.' _Naruto decided to mull that over in his head as he headed back to the inn and went to bed.

In the morning, while Naruto was in the bathroom, the neighbor's cat got a hold of his water balloon and popped it while the genin watched from the sidelines. '_It broke it by tossing it all around. So I have to make the water spin in different direction, instead of just one.'_ Naruto cursed Jiraiya for giving him the absolutely bare minimum. Naruto knew that he could easily do it with two hands, but that would be kind of cheating.

'_To disrupt the flow of chakra,'_ thought Naruto. '_Yes, that would do it, but how do I do that? How do I spin it in different directions at the same time?'_ Naruto pondered that for a little while, as he was waiting for Jiraiya to wake up. Naruto looked down at his palm and realized that he didn't have to release chakra from just one place; he could release it from several places. Then each one would spin the water in a different way.

Naruto tried it and after pushing in the right amount of chakra the balloon finally popped. "Hey, Ero-Sennin, wake up!" Naruto shook the old man until he was awake. "Now look," Naruto exploded the balloon right in front of Jiraiya, who now had to dry off his face from the water. Naruto then explained how he came up with the solution.

"All right," yawned Jiraiya. "I guess that means step one is complete."

Naruto smiled, and closed and opened his right hand. '_The strain is starting to get to his circulatory system,'_ thought Jiraiya. '_But this is nothing compared to the second step.'_

'_Damn it, I'll need to heal this up before starting the next phase of training,'_ thought Naruto. '_But I don't want the pervert to know, just how easily accessible the Kyuubi's chakra is to me.'_ However, Naruto would get no alone time away from the sannin for the rest of the morning.

About midday, the two Leaf shinobi went back to the same clearing and Jiraiya handed Naruto another ball, this time made of rubber. The old man said that Naruto had to do the same thing, to break the ball. "The first step is to spin," explained Jiraiya. "The second is to add power. If there is no water, it's harder to feel the chakra moving. Hence it's harder to power it up." Jiraiya turned to leave, "Well practice this for a little while, I'm going to collect information."

Naruto practiced for several hours not being able to do much more than make a hole in the ball. Naruto held in hand in front of him and watched it tremble. '_If I pump in any more chakra I'll burn the pathways.'_

Jiraiya came walking back at that exact moment, "Hey Naruto, go to town and buy lunch for the two of us."

Naruto's eyes hardened, "Didn't you just come back from town?"

Jiraiya shrugged, "Remember, you are learning the jutsu from _me_." Naruto grumbled, but went to town anyway.

Once he got back, Jiraiya announced that they would be relocating to the next town. They walked in silence, eating they lunch on the way. Naruto kept thinking about how to break that ball. He had tried pouring quite a bit of chakra, but for some reason it still wouldn't break. Once they reached the next town it was the same routine, Jiraiya left Naruto to train while he wandered around town supposedly gathering information.

It wasn't long after Naruto started training that he was interrupted by a voice behind him. "What are you afraid of?" it asked. Naruto turned around very quickly, since he had not heard or felt the man's approach.

In front of Naruto stood a tall man, about six-foot three, fair skinned, with a lean muscular build. He couldn't be more than twenty-five years old, but his eyes held in them what seemed to be several thousand years of wisdom. He had short, black, spiked hair and his eyes were a shining green. He was clothed in all white. He wore a high-collared robe that reached down to his ankles and was open in front. Beneath the robe was a light silk shirt, baggy loose-fitting pants that were held by a thick-knotted belt. The man's boots were slightly tipped up at the front, and were leather bound as they went up and disappeared into the pants.

"Who are you?" asked Naruto warily.

"No one to be deathly afraid of," answered the stranger calmly. "You can call me the Ancient."

'_Ancient?'_ wondered Naruto. He suddenly felt the Kyuubi shake inside of him. '_What's wrong Kyu?'_

"It seems like your friend knows who I am," stated the Ancient.

Naruto's eyes widened completely, "How did you know about that?"

"Simple, I knew the Kyuubi before she was imprisoned inside of you and could easily pick out her chakra when it intermingled with yours," he explained. "Plus, I have been watching you for a long time now." Naruto stiffened at the last part. "Don't worry I am not looking to kidnap you for the Kyuubi."

"You know about that, the Akatsuki?"

"Yes, I was the one that helped that idiot Jiraiya figure out that there was a genjutsu on that lady," sighed the Ancient.

"Why are you here?" asked Naruto.

"Down to business, eh? Good, I didn't feel like stalling anyway. I'm here in the interest of helping you."

"Helping me?"

"With your training."

"**Kit, be kind to this man,"** said the Kyuubi. "**He can kill the both of us without even blinking."**

'_Who the hell is he?'_ inquired Naruto.

"**His job is to oversee the world,"** she explained. "**He maintains the balance in the world. He is also the one that created it and, needless to say, can destroy it."** Naruto gulped.

"You want to train me?" asked Naruto uncertainly.

"Has your fox friend been filling your head with ideas of how horrible of a person I am?" he asked kindly.

"N-Not really."

"Well, what she said was true, but I don't plan on killing you. Nor do I want to," he added.

"How do you know what she said?"

"Telepathy, I had to know whether or not she would tell you the truth about me or not," explained the Ancient. "Please accept my apologies, I don't normally invade the private space of someone else's mind without asking."

Naruto thought it over for a little while before coming to a decision. "All right, I still don't trust you, but if you can help me train then I will make a truce," said Naruto in a low, but calm voice.

"I understand. I wouldn't have much interest in you if you were a gullible, ignorant, little boy," the man smiled. "Now, I ask again, what are you afraid of?"

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

"You are obviously not pumping as much chakra as you could into that ball," said the Ancient. "So I must ask, why not?"

"I will burn my chakra pathways if I put any more in," reasoned Naruto.

"You're saying that like they won't heal ever."

"It is quite on the painful side, and I don't want to be handicapped while they are healing."

The Ancient sighed, "Ever hear the saying: 'No pain, no gain'?" Naruto shook his head in the negative. "Ah sorry, it hasn't been used for several millennia. But it applies quite well to your situation."

"So you're telling me to just go ahead and burn my chakra system in order to learn this one jutsu?" asked the boy incredulously.

"I'm asking you to push the limits of your not-so _human_ body and see what really happens, and not what you _think_ is going to happen."

"All right, I'll try it," said Naruto reluctantly.

"Is there something else you want to ask?" Naruto fumbled with his words a bit before finally asking how come he couldn't feel the Ancient's presence even though the man was standing right in front of him. "Oh, sorry about that, force of habit. I am able to completely erase my presence on Ningenkai. It helps for espionage purposes. I could teach you it someday," he grinned. Naruto grinned in response and said that that would be great.

"Well, go on, break the ball," instructed the Ancient.

Naruto concentrated once more and started sending chakra into the ball until his hand hurt, but this time Naruto didn't stop and sent a large portion of chakra to break through the pain. The ball exploded in Naruto's hand and the boy was sent flying backwards, to be caught by the Ancient.

"See, I told you, you could do it," praised the young man, to which Naruto smirked. "Now check your hand," he ordered.

Naruto checked his hand and found that while it hurt more than usual, his chakra system was well intact he could probably do that several more times before the end of the day.

"Your charka system has been burned through by demonic chakra, and then rebuilt to handle more demonic chakra," explicated the Ancient. "Thus, an overflow of _human_ chakra will never be able to burn your chakra pathways."

"Then, why does it still hurt?" questioned Naruto.

"Because that portion of your body is not used to channeling that much chakra for a prolonged period of time. Even when you do Doton jutsus, you channel the chakra through your hands into the ground and from there it does its business. As opposed to holding it several millimeters from your opening points, see the difference?"

"I guess," was the slow reply.

"It's difficult to explain without extensive medical knowledge," the Ancient mulled on how to better explain. "Think of it this way: if a tendril of raw chakra were to come within several millimeters of you, you would feel it; not only that, but it might harm you. Versus having the same raw chakra pass several feet from you." Naruto nodded now completely understanding.

"Now, rest your hand while we do some other exercises," said the Ancient. "I estimate at least two hours before the old pervert returns."

"You're going to leave when he comes?" asked Naruto already anticipating the answer.

"Yes," the man confirmed. "I would appreciate if you not talk to Jiraiya about my helping you out."

"In other words, keep you a secret?"

The Ancient smiled, "Precisely."

"How come?" continued Naruto somewhat cautiously.

"He just doesn't need to know," was the simple reply. "Sort of like you don't tell anyone about the Kyuubi training you." The young man's smile broadened at the shock on Naruto's face. "Just to warn you, I have _extensive_ knowledge." Naruto nodded dumbly.

"**Well if that isn't the understatement of the millennium,"** said the fox dryly. "**Why doesn't he just say that he knows **_**everything**_**? It's pretty much true."**

"Um, why does the Kyuubi say you know everything?" inquired Naruto.

The Ancient sighed, "Well, since I created the world, I can spy on any part of it by will. So, technically, I can find out everything about anything." Naruto stared wide-eyed in fascination of the person in front of him. "I don't do it too much. After all, if you know everything the world becomes so dull and boring."

"All right, so what are you going to teach me?" asked Naruto.

The Ancient thought for a little bit. "I'll assume you know the Doton: Yomi Numa," he said and Naruto nodded (Hell Swamp). "But do you know how to poison that swamp water or how to alter the physical properties of the same swamp water?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, but it would probably have something to do with my Suiton Supremacy, right?"

"Nope," the young man surprised the genin completely.

"But, it is water and I have absolute control of it," argued Naruto.

"No, no, no," the Ancient shook his head, "common misconception among demons. You can control what water does, not what becomes of it. For example: you can't make all the water in the ocean disappear and neither can you make the Earth split in half," explicated the Ancient. "This falls under the category of what I call, global altering. And no one, besides myself, can do that."

"Safe guards," said Naruto as a more of a statement.

"Indeed; just a few of many."

"But if only you can do them, then what do you expect to teach me?" wondered Naruto.

"I am able to do global alterings, but that doesn't mean that _you_ aren't allowed to do situational alterings," he explained. "I am going to teach you how to turn that swamp water into acid and how to release deadly poisons from the water."

"But as far as I know, poisons come from plants… oh, I see, plants grow on the ground" said Naruto after a pause.

"Not only. You can make the poisons in the earth under the water and bring them up via air bubbles up to the surface," Naruto was instantly drawn in. "Since you have a much closer affinity to Doton, we'll start with the poisons, then move on the Suiton alterations."

To begin with, the Ancient had Naruto simply learning how to make poisons by collecting specific elements and minerals from the ground. Since Naruto had been using his Doton Supremacy for over a year now, it didn't take him too long before he caught on. Most poisons are made from plants and herbs, but there are those come from the ground. There weren't quite as many, but they were some of the most dangerous. Naruto then made a small swamp and practiced doing the air bubbles. Soon Naruto had grasped the both concepts enough to be able to combine them together and make the poison gas come up through the water in the air bubbles.

"Not bad," commented the Ancient. "You're losing about fifty percent of the poison, but it's good for a beginner." Naruto smiled and thanked his new unofficial teacher. "Not much to thank me for, it's just a combination of things you already knew with just a little lesson on poisons."

"Still, I feel like you went out of your way to teach me, and for that I thank you," Naruto bowed slightly. The Ancient nodded in acceptance, but said that it still wasn't a big deal.

The Ancient's head quirked to side as he half-frowned, "Looks like our training session is over," he said calmly. "Jiraiya is about a half-mile out, so it is time for me disappear."

"You can sense someone from a half a mile away?" asked Naruto incredulously.

"No, I set up some alert traps, that's all. The sannin just tripped some of them, and thus I know he's coming."

"But it could be someone else, not Jiraiya?"

"You see, my alert traps are animated," explained the young man. "They can distinguish one person from another. Advanced stuff, don't worry about it now," he added noticing Naruto's hungry-impressed look. The Ancient then crouched down and put one palm on the ground. The ground suddenly shifted and moved around until it looked like nothing had been done on it. "There, as good as new," he said. "Wouldn't want the old man to suspect something."

"How did you…?" marveled Naruto.

"Oh, umm," the Ancient shifted uncomfortably. "I don't feel like talking about it right now, ask me some other time." The Ancient slowly started walking away and as he did his body seemed to become more and more transparent.

"Will I ever see you again?" called out Naruto.

The man turned towards Naruto and smiled, "We'll see how life turns out." A breeze blew and his body disintegrated into millions of tiny particles and was blown away.

'_That's a cool teleportation,'_ thought Naruto. '_Much better than the clouds the Leaf jounin do.'_

"**He's a lot more powerful than the Leaf jounin,"** said the Kyuubi in an awed voice. "**I'm very surprised that he actually trained you."**

'_How come?'_

"**He doesn't train anyone,"** she stated matter-of-factly. "**Demon kings would ask him to train their sons and daughters, but he would always refuse. His training is something that demons and humans alike would kill for."**

'_Can you tell me about him?'_

"**There's not much to tell since not much is known,"** said the fox. "**He created this world, maintains its balance, and **_**very**_** rarely interferes in any of the world's processes. He can disappear for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years and then one day you'll see him walking about completely unchanged. There are rumors that this isn't his only world, and that when he disappears he simply goes to those other worlds."** Naruto listened very carefully. "**In Makai, every self-respecting demon knows that the Ancient exists, even if they haven't met him. He commands more authority than any King of Makai has ever had."**

'_Then why doesn't someone just dress up like him and pretend?'_ asked Naruto. '_I mean since most have never met him, they wouldn't know the difference.'_

"**None dare to. If he were to find out, I doubt that person would have a life afterwards. It is said that he can curse your very soul, so that in your next life you will suffer for the crimes you committed in this one."**

'_What about in this world, Ningenkai?'_ asked Naruto. '_Or do you not really know much about that?'_

"**I know a little bit,"** sighed Kyuubi. "**I know that the Kage are aware of him, as are the special jounin, and most likely the sannin. I also know that they fear him for the kind of power he possesses."**

'_So Jiraiya knows about him,'_ mused Naruto. '_Then, I wonder why he didn't want Jiraiya to know that he was here?'_

"**Likely because it may cause political problems,"** she explained. "**He is supposed to be neutral when it comes to the shinobi villages. If he were to train you, then that would show that he is favoring Konoha. And since the Leaf is fresh out of a war, it would be really bad for them."**

'_If he knows me, then he should realize that I don't care about the Leaf.'_

"**Yes, but I don't think the destruction of Konoha would bode well for the balance of the world,"** reasoned the Kyuubi. "**You may not care, but he doesn't want to have a lot more shit to deal with."**

'_Understandable,'_ concluded Naruto.

"**Enough about that, you need to explode that ball in front of Jiraiya, so that he'll finally teach you the real technique. Now go!" **she ordered.

Naruto cringed a little at her instant attitude change, but held the ball tightly in his hand and started expelling chakra into it. He felt his hand start to hurt again and in response sent a large wave of chakra into the ball. The result was the same as last time; the ball exploded, but this time Naruto had used chakra to hold on the ground and was not sent flying.

"Oh, it's done," muttered the old man. "Seems like you've cleared the second stage." Jiraiya looked down at the boy's hand in marvel. '_Wow, to concentrate chakra to the extent where it burnt his hand. This kid is really something.'_

"All right!" yelled Naruto. "Let's start the third stage quickly."

"Leave it for later," said Jiraiya. "We're going to meet Tsunade now."

"You actually found out some information," said Naruto in surprise.

"What did you think I was doing?" asked Jiraiya disbelievingly.

"Going around bathhouses, strip clubs, whorehouses, and the like," replied Naruto calmly.

Jiraiya frowned with his eye twitching, '_This kid…'_ he suddenly remembered that they had a place to go to. "Let's go!" he yelled.

"Calm down, no need to go jumping around like a little kid in front of a candy store."

"You seem to be in a bad mood," said Jiraiya.

"Because you promised to teach me the third step," the genin said impatiently.

"Oh, well, the third step can be done while walking," said Jiraiya and blew up a normal balloon. He tossed it to Naruto, "The first step was to spin. The second step was power. Finally, the third step is this."

"Holding the ball in your hand?" asked Naruto in a low voice.

"It may seem like I'm just holding the balloon, but I'll show you the same thing on my left hand," said the sannin and started gathering chakra on left hand. The chakra was tightly bound in a perfect orb, as if it was a small typhoon.

"So inside the balloon in your right hand the same thing is happening as your left hand?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah!"

"Well, you see," started Naruto in an annoyed voice. "I regret to inform you that I do not have the Sharingan or Byakugan, so I could not _see_ what the hell you were doing _inside_ the balloon," Naruto yelled out the last part in frustration.

'_Even with that much chakra spinning, the balloon doesn't even twitch,'_ analyzed Naruto. '_There must be more power and speed to it than when I was popped the rubber ball.'_

"The third step is giving all you learned from the previous two and charging it," explained Jiraiya. "Basically, you max out the spin and power of your chakra. But make a wall within the balloon and concentrate your power."

"So I do the spinning and the power, and try not to pop the balloon?" inquired Naruto.

"Yes, exactly."

"So what is final result?" asked Naruto. "I've already seen what happens at the second stage on real a target, but what happens at the third."

Jiraiya nodded and walked up to a tree. He charged the orb and cut straight through the trunk.

"Whoa!" slowly said Naruto in amazement. '_All right, I can do this.'_ Naruto held the ball in his hand and started spinning the chakra while charging it up. However, he couldn't hold to it within the orb and it went flying in all directions.

"Hey, don't slack off," reprimanded Jiraiya. "You've got to charge a hundred percent of your spin and power into it."

'_So I have to perfectly control everything I send into it,'_ thought Naruto. '_I'll seriously need to meditate this evening.'_

"We must hurry now, there is no guarantee that Tsunade will stay in the city any longer," announced Jiraiya and walked away at a business pace; Naruto followed him at the same pace.

When they got to the city, Tsunade was not to found in any of the casinos or the bars. One of the managers suggested that she might have gone sight seeing to the nearby castle. That is where the two Leaf-nins were headed now. They walked for several miles before coming up on the sight where the castle should have been in clear view.

"You didn't get lost did you, Ero-Sennin?" taunted Naruto.

"Damn brat! I know my way around the Fire Country!" yelled Jiraiya.

"Then where's the castle?" asked Naruto. They jumped up on a nearby rooftop and saw the whole castle lying in ruins. "What the hell happened here?" asked Naruto warily since something was bugging in sixth sense.

They saw a frightened man running away quickly and asked him what had happened. When he responded that demon beast had attacked, both Naruto and Jiraiya went on alert. Especially so when the man also mentioned that it had been a snake.

"A snake?" Naruto narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Could it have been the same one that I met during the chuunin exam?"

"Yes, most likely it was," said Jiraiya in a serious tone.

The genin and sannin quickly made their way towards the ruined castle and landed in the exact spot where Orochimaru had been talking to Tsunade. Naruto's eyes narrowed and he snarled out a name, "Orochimaru, right?"

Jiraiya had heard about Sasuke, and thus realized that Naruto had been in a confrontation with the snake sannin. "Yes, and that wall was likely destroyed by Tsunade," he said. "Looks like we were just a little bit too late."

Naruto looked around until he saw something that caught his attention, "Blood," he stated. "Snake-smelling blood."

Jiraiya turned to look at his student, "How the hell do you know that?" he questioned.

"The Kyuubi is stirring around restlessly," answered Naruto. "It _really_ hates snakes."

Jiraiya nodded and beckoned Naruto to follow him, saying that they would dig up some information in the nearby town. Night had already fallen when they reached the next town and Jiraiya dragged Naruto into a pub to eat dinner. As soon as they walked in Jiraiya froze.

"Tsunade," he said.

Naruto looked in the same direction and noticed two women sitting at the far table, a blond one with a diamond in her forehead and a black-haired one. The blond had blurted out Ero-Sennin's name, so Naruto assumed she was the one they were looking for.

"Why are you at a place like this?" asked Tsunade once they were comfortably seated and the food had been brought.

"We were looking for you," replied Jiraiya.

"Today, I met with someone that brings back bad memories," she said.

"Orochimaru," stated Jiraiya. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing," neither Jiraiya nor Naruto failed to notice the silent exchange between Tsunade and her assistant, Shizune. "Just a little greeting."

'_Oh yeah sure, like Orochimaru showed up and gave Sasuke a little greeting,'_ thought Naruto angrily.

"You too, why'd you come to see me?" asked Tsunade.

Naruto looked up from his food expectantly; he never did inquire why Jiraiya was being paid to find her. "To tell you the truth, Konoha has issued a request for you to be the Godaime Hokage." Naruto choked on his food, while Tsunade and Shizune just stared at Jiraiya wide-eyed.

'_Godaime Hokage!'_ thought Naruto. '_Well, it does make sense since the third was killed and she is one of the sannin.'_

"The third is…" Jiraiya trailed off.

"It was Orochimaru's work," said Tsunade. "I heard, he told me."

Naruto was amazed, "What, that snake guy is the one that killed the old man?" he cried. "Who is he exactly?"

"He was with us," answered Jiraiya slowly. "One of The Three ninjas."

"Then he went Missing-nin, is that right?" guessed Naruto.

No one answered; instead Tsunade asked a question, "Who is this boy?"

"He is Uzumaki Naruto," stated Jiraiya.

Tsunade's eyes widened slightly in shock, then narrowed a bit; an action that didn't go unnoticed by the genin. "So, what is your answer? Are you willing to accept?" asked the old man.

Tsunade hesitated. "Impossible… I decline," she finally said.

"I remember in the past you saying the same thing when I asked you out," commented Jiraiya.

'_And that means what exactly?'_ wondered Naruto. '_It doesn't look like she accepted any time after that either.'_

"Hey," called Naruto. "Isn't she supposed to be a good doctor that can treat Kakashi and Sasuke? You ask her to become Hokage and she refuses?"

"Don't worry so much," Jiraiya said. "This person right here, Tsunade, is the only one that can become the Godaime." Jiraiya went on to explain how Tsunade brought them victory in battle and is the granddaughter of the first Hokage. "This is a decision made by the top members of the Leaf; you have absolutely no say in this."

'_As if I care that I can't pick the next Hokage,'_ thought Naruto.

"Jiraiya, this kid seems worse than your previous apprentice, in terms of looks, speech, and intelligence," said the legendary medic-nin.

This got Naruto riled up, "Hey, now wait a minute!" yelled Naruto. "What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Well, its tough for anyone to be compared to the Yondaime," said Jiraiya boastfully. "Because he really had the talent to become a top-rated ninja. He was smart, reliable, and handsome like me too."

Naruto frowned, "You're not smart, reliable, or handsome, Ero-Sennin." Jiraiya scowled.

Tsunade chuckled a little at Naruto's nickname for Jiraiya. "But, even that Yondaime died quickly," she said. "He gave up his life for the village." Naruto shook a little at that mention of that man. "Life is different from money; it can't be gambled that easily. Whoever puts it at risk so easily, is a fool."

Naruto's face contorted in anger, '_She's pissing me off!'_

"My grandfather and the second both focused too much on bringing peace to our home more than anything else. But as a result, they just died in the middle of their dreams like losers. No wonder he died, because he was too old to live in his dreams." Naruto tightened his fist. "Being a Hokage is shit! No one but a fool would do it!"

"What the fuck did you say!?" yelled Naruto as he jumped up on table. Jiraiya tried to grab him, but the boy evaded his hand and leaned in closer to Tsunade. "Don't you dare spread such libel!" he seethed. "I hate people like you! The ones that look at everything only through their own point of view and never, ever, consider what someone else might be thinking or how the person you are accusing of being a fool actually feels! I don't give who you are, I'll kill you!" he threatened.

Everyone at the table was shocked at Naruto's speech. Tsunade suddenly got up till she was eye level with the genin. "You've got some guts to say such things to me boy," she said threateningly. "Let's take this outside."

"Fine," growled Naruto.

"**Now, now Naruto, don't just go around showing off everything you've got just because she fits into the usual category of people,"** lectured the fox.

'_She just pissed me off,'_ he explained. '_You'd think a human in old age would know better; and on top of all of that, she's being asked to be the Hokage.'_

"**I thought we were past the point where I taught you proper self-control,"** she said in a serious tone.

'_What if she does become the Hokage? With the kind of attitude she holds now, I'll be at a disadvantage if one of the cows is the Hokage.'_

"**Still not reason enough to pick a fight with an S-Class shinobi,"** reasoned the fox.

'_She's an old woman that has been out of practice for a while,'_ replied the blond.

"**Never underestimate your opponent,"** said the Kyuubi, "**I thought you learned that."**

"I've been one of the Legendary Three, I don't even have to be serious to fight this little ninja boy," boasted Tsunade. "One finger should be enough."

Naruto scowled and charged at the medic-nin throwing shuriken at her. Tsunade dodged easily and went under Naruto's kunai swipe, striking Naruto in the wrist and taking his kunai at the same time. However, just as she was going to flick Naruto in the forehead, she felt the ground under her rumble. She looked down and immediately jumped away barely missing the explosion.

She looked behind her to find another Naruto crouching down with his palms pressed into the ground. Before she could move, her legs were caught in the ground by Naruto's quicksand. Naruto then jumped forward at Tsunade trying to strike her in the head with a kick. However, Tsunade wasn't of the Legendary Three for nothing, she quickly ducked below the genin and using a quick burst of chakra freed herself from the quicksand and flicked Naruto in the back of the head sending him flying.

'_Damn bitch!'_ scowled Naruto. '_I'll show her!'_ he went to activate his Supremacies, but found that he could no longer pull on the Kyuubi's chakra. '_Hey, what's the big idea!?'_

"**You want to reveal the Supremacies in front of two Sannin and potentially the future Hokage?"** asked the fox harshly.

Naruto frowned and grit his teeth, but understood the dangers of that action. '_Then I guess I'll try to use my newest jutsu,'_ thought Naruto, hoping that his new jutsu would work under the pressure of combat.

"Hey kid, I'll ask you one thing before you pass out. Why do you get so hipped up about what I think?" asked Tsunade.

"Unlike you, I have experienced your kind of ignorant views all my life," seethed Naruto. "Typical older generation of the Leaf kind of person. All you care about is your own fame and honor, the wellbeing of other people, much less the village, doesn't bother you in the least."

This was a direct blow to Tsunade's pride. After all, she was a medic-nin and the wellbeing of other people was her job. She paused when she remembered her fiancée's words of wanting to protect the whole village.

Naruto noticed his enemy's pause and started charging up his new technique. Before the orb had completely formed, Naruto had already started running towards Tsunade at a high speed.

Tsunade was instantly brought back to the present when she saw what the boy in front of her was planning. '_That technique!'_ she was amazed.

Tsunade brought her finger up and brought it down on the ground, making it crack. Naruto, having been completely concentrated on forming the orb, hadn't noticed in time and tripped driving the unformed orb into the ground, only making a spiral marking. '_Never thought he would try to use the Yondaime's jutsu,'_ thought Tsunade. '_But that lack of power is nothing like the Yondaime.'_

Naruto climbed out of the hole and was checked by Shizune to make sure he was ok. He coughed out a bit of blood and glared up at Tsunade.

"Jiraiya, is it you?" she asked. "Who's teaching him the Rasengan?"

'_Rasengan, is that what it's called?'_ wondered Naruto.

"Teaching him something he can't do, and believing you are his master," mocked the legendary medic. "It's better if he doesn't think that way, so silly kids won't joke about foolish dreams."

"It's not a joke you idiotic old hag!" cried the genin. "All I need is three days to learn this technique."

"Heh, some words, brat," said Tsunade. "A man's words should never be taken back."

"I won't take back my words," said Naruto seriously. "That's my ninja way!"

'_Well, more like my demonic way,'_ thought Naruto. '_But for all practical, human, purposes…'_

Tsunade looked to be thinking something over, before finally speaking again. "Well then, is that so, I'll give you one week. If you can master I will acknowledge you and I'll give you this necklace," she offered.

"What?" asked Naruto. "I don't want that crappy necklace."

"Don't say that, Naruto," Jiraiya corrected. "That is a very unique and precious ore that belonged to the first Hokage. If you sold it, you could buy three mountains."

"I don't want three mountains," said Naruto thoughtfully. "I am, however, up for a wager."

"Oh?" inquired Tsunade.

"If I win then you will have to come back with us and become the Godaime," Naruto smirked, while Tsunade was shocked. "Deal?"

Tsunade calmed down and smiled, "Fine, but if you lose and all your money will belong to me," she said as she held out Naruto's wallet.

"Fine, as if money can't be re-obtained," acknowledged Naruto.

"What are you doing?" pleaded Tsunade's assistant. "That necklace is…"

Shizune was interrupted, "It's not like he can accomplish it anyway. Let's go, Shizune!" Tsunade turned and walked off.

"Tsunade, can we have a drink together?" asked Jiraiya. "It's been a while." Tsunade turned around in surprise, but said nothing. "Shizune, you and Naruto go find a hotel to stay for the night, okay?"

"Okay," agreed Shizune, and motioned for Naruto to come with her. Naruto physically followed, while being mentally lost in his mind.

'_Damn it! That technique, the Rasengan, still didn't work,'_ thought the blonde. '_I wonder that the hell I'm doing wrong._'

"**Perhaps picking a fight with one of the Legendary Sannin?" **said the Kyuubi in an annoyed tone."**And on that note, I thought you didn't want her to become the Hokage?"**

The blonde frowned,** '**_No, but what's the alternative? Better her than one of the council members that wants to send me to the next world.'_

Naruto was brought back to the real world as he heard the black-haired woman, Shizune, address him. He realized, with a start, that they were already in their hotel room.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked sincerely.

"Sure," replied Naruto. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I just don't want you to misunderstand Tsunade-sama," she said slowly.

Naruto scoffed, "She's an ignorant old hag that's set in her ways."

"Tsunade-sama is nothing like what you think of her!" yelled Shizune. "Please don't talk about her as if you know her!" Naruto was taken aback. "I'm sorry for yelling." Shizune then explained why Tsunade changed her attitude all those years ago. Naruto found out that Tsunade had lost both her brother and her fiancée in wars. She also told Naruto about the cursed necklace that Tsunade tried to bet with.

"Can you understand, Naruto, that from that day forth Tsunade-sama has been struggling?" asked Shizune.

Naruto sighed and simply walked towards the door, "I'm going to train," he announced and walked out.

Naruto trained the rest of the night, not being able to do much more than what happened with Tsunade. '_Why the hell isn't this working?'_ he thought angrily, before collapsing into a deep sleep.

He was awakened by the sounds of a fire and meat roasting, but he didn't feel anyone's presence. Naruto slowly opened his eyes to see the familiar image of the same young man that helped him out a day ago.

"Good day, sleepyhead," he greeted. "You need to eat, or do really think you'll have enough energy to be able to do the Rasengan?" he asked kindly yet a bit mockingly, while handing Naruto a wholly roasted rabbit.

Naruto mumbled thanks before hungrily digging into the food, which he found to be the best cooked rabbit he had ever had. "Wow, how do you cook something this good on a little fire?" wondered Naruto.

"Anything can be learned given enough time," replied the Ancient. "Live without a wife long enough and you'll be forced to learn how to cook."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, the genin wouldn't give the man more than twenty-five, and here he was talking as if it's been decades. He was going to shrug it off, but then remembered that the Ancient must be several thousands of years old. Naruto quickly finished his lunch, while the Ancient just sat and watched. "You aren't going to eat?" wondered the boy.

"I ate a little while ago," was the reply. "You know, you might want to go around Konoha decorating," lightly chuckled the young man. "With how well you can engrave spirals into things."

"Hey, that's not funny!" cried Naruto. "I'm seriously trying to learn the Rasengan."

"I know, I was just teasing," calmly replied the Ancient. "Show me."

Naruto nodded and started gathering and powering up the chakra orb. He then rushed at a tree, but all that happened was the usual spiral. Naruto turned around disappointedly and saw the Ancient nodding to some thought in his head.

"You're rushing things again," he said calmly. "You're expecting it to _just _form. You need to calm down and get some patience. It's a new construction of chakra that you have never done. There is no way it'll assume the correct form instantly."

"Then what should I do?" asked Naruto.

"Forget testing the jutsu, just make it," suggested the young man.

Naruto mulled over the idea in his head and nodded somewhat reluctantly. "All right, I'll try it," he said.

"Good," said the Ancient getting up. "That's enough clues for today, I'll see you later."

"What? You're just going to leave?" questioned Naruto. "You're not gonna stay and watch me try it out."

"Nope," was the quick reply. "I have a whole week to come back and see if you can do it or not."

"I suppose," mumbled Naruto in disappointment. He was really hoping that the young man would stay and help him out more.

"Hey, it's like Jiraiya said, 'this is something you have to figure out on your own.' This is one of the few times I'll agree with the pervert. A jutsu of this caliber needs to figured out," explained the Ancient. "Or do you want everything handed to you on a silver platter, like say Sasuke or Kakashi with their Sharingan." The young man knew that would do the trick and smiled inwardly.

"Hey! Don't compare to those two!" yelled Naruto. "I'll learn the jutsu by myself, thank you very much!" he turned away and started gathering chakra again. He didn't even feel the need to check that the Ancient had gone, he just knew; just as he knew he could not feel the man's presence no matter what. Suddenly a thought struck him, '_How did he know about the week's time?'_ he wondered. '_Damn, to be able to hide your presence from two of the Legendary Three!'_

Naruto practiced the rest of the day, only taking short breaks to go into town for food. By nighttime, he was on the ground again in exhausting. He hadn't been able to complete the technique even with the Ancient's hint. '_What the hell am I missing?'_ he wondered as he fell asleep.

He once again woke up to find the Ancient sitting right next to him, "Morning," he called out. Naruto mumbled incoherently and slowly sat up. "Well, I'm here to give you a final hint that you have somehow been missing this whole time," said the Ancient.

"Thanks for all your help," said Naruto sincerely.

"No problem. After all, the future holds need," he answered.

Naruto nodded, even though he didn't really understand what the young man was talking about. "So, what is this hint?" asked Naruto hungrily.

The Ancient laughed at the genin's forwardness. "Haven't you noticed yet that the Rasengan is very much akin to a technique you already know?" he asked.

Naruto had to think for a little while, running through all the techniques he knew. "No."

"I'll narrow it down to your demonic jutsus," hinted the Ancient. Naruto did a double take, but still didn't find anything. The Ancient sighed, "I could taunt you with riddles all day, but I'll make an exception. Don't you find it being a kin to the Nine-tailed Whirlwind?"

Naruto thought for a moment and suddenly it hit him that the techniques are quite similar. Noticing the light bulb going off in Naruto's head the young man smiled. "That's right, even though the demonic jutsu is large-scale the principal is the same. An orb of chakra is created. In the demonic case, you expand the orb to hit targets, but here you actually have to solidify the orb and move the actual orb into the target."

Naruto had been thinking about it during the Ancient's explanation and had already thought of a few things to try out. He looked up just in time to see a retreating form of the young man. "Hey!" he called out, making the Ancient pause. "What do you think of the Leaf?" asked Naruto suddenly.

The Ancient turned around and walked back to Naruto. "They are stupid, very stupid," he replied. "They rely too much on their few overly strong, and are thrown into panic when those strong fall." He paused. "A problem with all the villages really, is that the people, all people, adapt the current Kage's views on most things in life. There is a reason the Sandaime retired and chose a fourth, he knew that the village needed a new driving force. Otherwise they would get too settled in their old idealisms. Once the fourth took power, which was for a too short a period of time, the village people became more motivated and optimistic. Then the Kyuubi happened and the Sandaime took power again. He was already an old man and was being practically forced to go back to his old job. Thus the gloomy atmosphere, the lazy enforcement of laws, the council gained a lot of power during these last thirteen years because the Hokage didn't challenge them."

The Ancient paused in his lecture. "Do you know why there were so few ANBU during the Chuunin Exam Finals?" Naruto shook his head in the negative. "The council deemed that an attack while the Kazekage was visiting would be stupid, and thus had most of the forces outside the village gathering information. Frankly, the Leaf disgusts many Hidden Villages out there. I mean, in the last thirteen years it has degenerated into, practically, a democracy. What sane person would let a council run a war-oriented city? Konoha should have a strong leader that orders about their soldiers and doesn't take 'no' for an answer."

Naruto nodded in agreement, "And you think Tsunade could do this?"

"She may not be young, but Konoha needs such drastic change such as the first Hidden Village to have a female Kage, to jumpstart its change."

"I know she doesn't take shit from anyone," said Naruto. "But you said that the council has gained a lot of power, so do you think that she will be able to stand up to them?"

"The council could be used to run the village in peacetime," said the Ancient. "Successfully, I might add. The problem is, as soon as a war starts a _real_ leader is needed and the council will be forced to take a backseat. Either that, or face complete annihilation, and the senile geezers on the council definitely don't want that. Nor are _they_ actually willing to go out on the battlefield and sacrifice _their_ lives for the village." He paused. "No, power will shift back. And a dictatorship is quite hard to turn back into a democracy. Thus, the Leaf will be back to normal in no time."

"No time?" asked Naruto confused.

"Well, sorry, on my scale it's _no time_, but in years it would have to be around ten to fifteen."

Naruto was completely confused, "Huh? _Your_ time scale?"

"I'll explain it later," said the young man. "Right now, you need to focus on learning the Rasengan." The man simply disappeared.

Naruto wasn't satisfied with the answer, in fact it made him a bit nervous, but he couldn't do much about it. He swore under his breath and started his training. With the Nine-tailed Whirlwind in mind, Naruto was able to stabilize the Rasengan enough to be able to cut into a tree a little bit, but it was still lacking the power that Jiraiya had showed him.

"**Kit, don't try it out as soon as you've formed something new,"** instructed the fox. "**Just concentrate on making it, like the Ancient said."**

Naruto nodded and took a breath to calm himself down. It was already dusk, and he hadn't been able to do much. He decided to just get a good night's sleep tonight and then try his best tomorrow. He collapsed on the ground, making several hand seals to soften the ground beneath him. Naruto didn't notice Tsunade's presence, as she was observing him from behind a rock formation a few dozen yards away.

)))))In Another Dimension(((((

"I'm not particularly satisfied with how this is all going," said the Ancient as he looked out the window and onto the unchanging forest outside.

The other person in the room looked away from his work for a moment to gauge the Ancient's demeanor before turning back. "What do you mean? Their relationship is perfect for this."

Yashka did not spare his silver-haired companion a look as he continued looking out the window. "While that may be true, in the grand scheme of things this poses a bit of a problem."

"A logistics problem, nothing more."

"They may not care right now, but when push comes to shove what are you going to tell them, Zeph?"

The person named Zeph turned to face the Ancient, "I have, more or less, figured that out." As he said this, his long silvery hair that went down to the small of his back began to recede and turn a deep obsidian. At the same time, he changed his build to be slightly more muscular to match the Ancient's and he grew several inches to be taller than Yashka. He left his black boots, black pants, and black overcoat unchanged.

"Going to meet them?" wondered Yashka. "I thought you said you only figured it out more or less?"

"I have enough to sate them for now. The details can be figured out later, since they won't even start growing suspicious until a few years from now," the newly transformed man picked up a mask from the table and disappeared.

"More or less, huh?" commented the Ancient with a sigh. "Why do I feel uneasy?"

)))))Back on Ningenkai(((((

For the next couple days Naruto worked on the Rasengan endlessly. At first he tried transposing the Whirlwind into the palm of his hand, but that didn't work out too well because demonic chakra had slightly different properties than human chakra. The genin was forced to go back to what he was originally doing, but that wasn't working so well either.

The majority of the fifth day Naruto spent meditating to sort out his chakra and perfect his control over it. He did not sleep, but rather worked through the night to make the orb. By mid-morning Naruto was able to hold a stable orb in his hand, but when he tried to cut the tree, the orb burst apart. After some trial and error, and little demonic intervention, Naruto found that as soon as the orb was formed he would subconsciously stop fueling it with as much chakra.

This, of course, forced Naruto to meditate again. He didn't come out of it until late in to the night. However, he passed out right afterwards. Shizune had come to check up on him at this time. She saw the havoc Naruto had caused to his training ground and the boy in question was passed out in the middle of it all. She carefully picked him up and carried him back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel, Tsunade checked out Naruto and bandaged up his chakra-burnt hand. She said that he wasn't likely to wake up until the day after tomorrow. The young medic-nin tried to convince Tsunade not to accept Orochimaru's offer, but the old woman simply knocked out her assistant and walked away.

The next morning, Naruto woke up quite easily and noticed a knocked out Shizune on the floor beside the bed. "Hey, wake up!" he shook the young woman. "What day is today?"

Shizune replied that it was Monday, but was really surprised that Naruto had woken up even with his injuries. Naruto looked over at his right hand, which Shizune had mentioned, and showed it to her. There were absolutely no burn marks, as if he had never even been burnt. "Quick healing," said Naruto, and Shizune nodded remembering the Kyuubi. "So, where the hell is the old hag?" asked Naruto.

Shizune suddenly ran towards the window telling Naruto to stay put, but he followed regardless. That's when they saw Jiraiya, looking to have a horrible hangover, if not some sickness. He told them that Tsunade had drugged his sake and that he can barely walk.

"And you're the one that always brags about what kind of great ninja you are!" insulted Naruto. The genin was going to go on, but caught a certain smell that enraged him. Jiraiya also did not respond, but slightly turned his head in the same direction Naruto was looking.

"Shizune, what did you talk with Orochimaru about?" the toad sannin demanded. "It's about time you tell us."

"I wanted to believe in Tsunade-sama, that's why I couldn't say anything," she replied slowly. "We don't have much time, follow me and I'll explain on the way."

The three shinobi leapt off and Shizune told them exactly what had transpired a week ago. The closer they got, the more Naruto felt the ground rumble in the area of the ruined castle. "Does Tsunade or Orochimaru know any massive Doton jutsus?" finally asked Naruto.

"Tsunade, does not," answered Jiraiya. "I'm not sure about Orochimaru. Why?"

"Because the closer we get, the more the ground rumbles as if the ground itself is exploding," replied Naruto.

"Well, Tsunade does have freakish strength," reasoned Jiraiya. Naruto nodded and continued running. "How did you feel the ground rumbling?" inquired Jiraiya.

"It's pretty obvious," said Naruto. "You're just too drunk to notice."

"I told you it is poison!" scowled Jiraiya.

"Whatever you say, Ero-Sennin."

"I told you not to call me that!" yelled Jiraiya.

Soon the three Leaf shinobi reached the battlegrounds to find Orochimaru and Tsunade gone, but the ground and nearby walls completely destroyed. "Holy shit…" mumbled Naruto. "You weren't kidding about that freakish strength."

Shizune looked down at the pig she always carried around. "Ton-ton, which way did she go?" The pig grunted and led them in the direction Tsunade ran. They arrived just in time to stop Kabuto from attacking Tsunade.

"Long time no see, Jiraiya," greeted Orochimaru.

"You haven't changed at all," replied Jiraiya. "Those wild eyes of yours."

"Naruto-kun," said Kabuto.

"Hello, Kabuto," said Naruto coldly. "You traitor."

"You seem to know who he is," stated Jiraiya. But before Naruto could answer, Tsunade pushed Jiraiya out of the way and attacked Kabuto. The Sound-nin, however, simply slit his wrist right as Tsunade got up to him and had the medic-nin freeze. Kabuto took advantage of the opportunity and punched Tsunade. Shizune caught Tsunade and quickly started wiping off the blood all over Tsunade's body.

Naruto glared at Kabuto. "Even if you make such a scary face, you are nothing more than an out-of-place genin," taunted Kabuto. "You were relying on that monster inside of you, but with the three legendary ninjas in front of my eyes, you are worthless. You are a small bug right, if you try something now, I'll kill you!"

Naruto simply laughed. "Oh, are you saying that you aren't afraid of the monster inside of me?" Kabuto didn't reply. "You wouldn't get scared if the Kyuubi took over and decided to _play_ with you?" he said in a dark tone.

"Naruto, don't!" yelled Jiraiya. But Naruto had already made some Kage Bunshin and ran at Kabuto. The spy easily countered the clones and sent Naruto flying back. The genin was caught by Shizune, who, at the same time spit out some darts at Orochimaru. This didn't go unnoticed by Kabuto, who jumped in the way and blocked them with his headband.

As soon as Kabuto instructed Orochimaru to undo his left bandage, Jiraiya ordered Shizune to handle Kabuto, while he fought with Orochimaru. Naruto was angry that he was being cut out of the fighting, but restrained his anger and instead decided to wait for an opportunity, which he felt would arrive quite soon.

Both Orochimaru and Jiraiya did a Kuchiyose, but unlike Orochimaru who summoned a large serpent, Jiraiya got a little kid that asked for treats. Naruto's eye twitched, but he decided not to help the pervert as a little revenge for not letting him fight.

"Your stupidity still hasn't been cured!" yelled the snake man. "Then I will attack first!" Orochimaru had his serpent dive down and tried to kill all of them at the same time, but they all managed to just away.

This angered Naruto, "Doton: Yomi Numa," he said and slammed his palms into the ground, several seconds before Jiraiya did the same thing. The swamp wasn't deep enough to drown the serpent. This forced Naruto to show a little more of this hand, as he did several more hand seals and activated the poisonous aspect of the swamp. Naruto was just as surprised as Orochimaru when the snake fell dead within a minute. Naruto would find out later that the poison he had crafted was an instant killer for snakes.

Orochimaru quickly realized what had happened and cursed himself for not getting rid of the Kyuubi brat during the Chuunin Exam. '_If he has access to the power of the nine-tails, I won't be able to deal with him,'_ thought Orochimaru gravely. '_And I also have Jiraiya to deal with. Though the idiot doesn't seem to realize just how dangerous the Kyuubi kid is.'_

Meanwhile, Shizune had attacked Kabuto with some projectiles that she fired from a device on her arm. Kabuto easily dodged and struck Shizune in the stomach, but the woman did not fumble and released a poison cloud at Kabuto. Kabuto simply used the ground to travel through and disabled Shizune's leg muscles. Kabuto punched Shizune until she rolled over to Tsunade. Kabuto walked over wanting to punch Tsunade, but was unable to as his arm was grabbed and he was thrown to the side by none other than Naruto.

"Looks like I get to fight anyway," he said cockily. Naruto did several hand seals and slammed his palms into the ground. Kabuto had barely enough time to dodge a spike that came out of the ground below him, but he certainly didn't expect for a dozen more to come up all around him. The Sound-nin could not dodge them all and received several cuts on his legs and even arms, as the spikes came all the up to eye-level.

"You like using Doton, don't you?" asked Kabuto in an amused voice, as he rushed at Naruto. The genin dodged the attack, but found that he could not stand up. "I managed to put a crack in your femur bone, with my snake attack," bragged Kabuto. "Even if you can move, you can't win since you can't stand."

Naruto concentrate on drawing the Kyuubi's chakra close to his femur bone, and smirked when he saw the shocked look on Kabuto's at the ring of red chakra along Naruto's upper leg. Naruto remembered his fight with Gaara, "Are you afraid of me?" asked the genin. "Are you afraid of my existence?" Naruto's eyes flashed red for a moment and he smiled a feral grin.

Kabuto gulped, had he just awoken the Kyuubi? If that was the case, he needed to end this as quickly as possible. He rushed at Naruto trying to stab him in face with a kunai. However, Naruto grabbed Kabuto around the wrist stopping his attack and immobilizing him at the same time.

Kabuto was shocked when he saw mud wrap around both his and Naruto's hands. They gray-haired medic realized that this jutsu was similar to Gaara's sand, and wondered if Naruto intended to crush his hand. His answer came when he saw that Naruto was wildly spinning chakra on his right palm. The blond formed a perfect orb, just like last night, but this one didn't break apart as he drove it straight into Kabuto's chest.

Blood, cartilage, and bone fragments were flying in all directions from Kabuto's chest, as if a drill had hit the Sound-nin. Naruto's hair, face and clothes were soon covered in blood. Meeting resistance only meant that Naruto would push harder and the blood would fly out faster.

The Sound-nin tried desperately to break away, to somehow twist his body away from the attack, but found that Naruto had also bound his feet in quicksand. When he had the time to do the hand seals, Kabuto would never know. Once the Rasengan was halfway in to Kabuto's body, the power of the attack ripped the Sound-nin out of the ground and Naruto's hold and sent his into a boulder fifty yards away.

The three legendary shinobi stared in awe at what Naruto had done. Tsunade and Jiraiya were both shocked that Naruto had mastered that technique in only a week. Tsunade was especially shaking at the bloody display before her. Orochimaru was shocked that the Kyuubi knew such a powerful jutsu. The snake man also realized that he would have to kill Naruto to stop him from interfering in his plans.

Kabuto, meanwhile, was on the ground, but not dead. He had used up most of his chakra and had healed up the bulk of the Rasengan attack. Naruto collapsed from chakra over-use, since he has literally pumped all of his human chakra into the Rasengan. Tsunade rushed over to Naruto and cut open his shirt to heal him. She noticed the weird markings on his shoulders, but paid little heed to them as she pumped healing chakra into his chest.

Suddenly Tsunade was pushed away by a strong ripple of chakra from Naruto. She looked up and saw the impossible happen. Naruto stood up as if nothing had happened and walked towards Kabuto. However, the most horrifying thing about all this was that Naruto had two red charka tails swaying behind him.

Everyone there instantly realized that it wasn't really Naruto that was walking, it was the Kyuubi. Kabuto looked up at Naruto to find a pair of red slited eyes looking down at him.

The Kyuubi, who was now in control of Naruto's body, crouched down next to Kabuto and whispered just loud enough for only the Sound-nin to hear. "This is the punishment for trying to kill those dear to me." Before Kabuto had time to interpret the words both chakra tails stabbed him. One went through his head and the other through his heart. The Kyuubi licked her lips tasting the fresh blood before relinquishing control of her container's body, which instantly collapsed.

Tsunade once again rushed over to the fallen genin, but this time with more caution. She inspected him, and found that he was just sleeping from chakra exhaustion. No sooner had she realized that, she felt a presence in front of her and saw Orochimaru's head flying towards them with the sword of Kusanagi sticking out of his mouth. Tsunade instantly threw herself into the sword's path, thus blocking it from hitting Naruto.

Orochimaru grew angry with Tsunade and tried to kill her and the brat, but every time Tsunade blocked the blows for Naruto. She then activated the seal on her forehead and instantly healed herself. The blond Sannin punched Orochimaru as hard she could, sending him flying to the other side of the field.

The snake man instantly knew that he was in over his head. "I will surely destroy the Leaf," he announced as he started sinking into the ground. "Till we meet again, my friends, Tsunade, Jiraiya."

That's when the others noticed that a part of Orochimaru's face had started to come off. '_That face!'_ thought Tsunade.

'_He must have completed that immortality jutsu!'_ thought Jiraiya. '_No wonder he didn't feel like himself.'_

"Tsunade, this is true immortality," Orochimaru said in response to their looks. "Farewell."

"Heh, Tsunade, you still suck at betting as always," commented Jiraiya as he looked down at the sleeping figure of Naruto.

"Now the after-effects of the jutsu," said Tsunade as her genjutsu dropped and she became her natural age. "If I rest a bit, I'll revert to my young self. Let's rest in the village until Naruto wakes up."

Naruto slept the rest of the day, waking up the next morning completely healed and rejuvenated. The group went to eat lunch before setting out back to Konoha.

"So the old hag is going to be Hokage now?" asked Naruto. "Fitting since she lost the bet."

"What are you so irritated about?" asked Jiraiya.

"Well, it's just that she's rough, selfish, loose with money, easily pissed off, stupid, and has no luck to speak of," Naruto listed off the insults.

Jiraiya tried to alleviate the situation by switching topics. "Hey, Naruto what are all those markings on your body?" he asked and noticed how Naruto flinched.

"They are just tattoos," half-lied Naruto.

"How about you tell me the truth?" demanded Tsunade in an authoritative tone.

"I'll tell you the truth if you don't hide your appearance in genjutsu," slyly countered Naruto. Tsunade frowned. "Oh yea, that's one I forgot, she's a liar. I mean covering her self in genjutsu and misleading people, tsk tsk tsk."

"Let's take this outside brat!" yelled Tsunade.

Naruto just shrugged and dug back into his food. "I see no need to fight with an old Hokage lady."

"What did you say!?" hissed Tsunade as she lifted the kid up by the collar.

"Let me eat in peace, woman! See what I mean by rough?" Tsunade growled, when she noticed Jiraiya holding back a chuckle. "And what are you laughing at pervert!?" that seemed to shut him up.

"He's probably enjoying the view you're giving him," commented Naruto, and watched in amusement as Tsunade looked down and then over at Jiraiya who was sweating profusely. Tsunade then dropped Naruto as she switched her attention to the old pervert. '_Ah, works like a charm,'_ smiled Naruto.

* * *

This chapter actually took me the longest to write; even though it doesn't seem that way with the fast update. I now have to consider events more, instead of just blindly coping out of the manga and randomly inserting Naruto's and/or Kyuubi's commentary to distill the dull drone of the original manga that I'm sure all of you have re-read at least once.

Next chapter: Sasuke rescue mission, or a filler. (I haven't decided yet.)


	9. Darkness Unveiled

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Thank you to all my reviewers!

"blah" speech  
"_blah_" thoughts  
"**blah**" Kyuubi's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Kyuubi's thoughts

Iceman-F1 - I hate the anime filler, especially the one they are doing right now.

Fic Slayr - Mary Sue: not really... Yes, he's based on my ego, but his arrogance and flanboyance is stereotypical of any elite.

l-laze - hahahaha, I'm gonna spoil the chapter for you; but you're right.

Sekikage - Get laid mentally or physically? Cuase Kyuubi's sitting in a cage in Naruto's mind...

bloodofakiller - How do I come up with this stuff, you ask. It just comes to me...

skuld's sentaro4 - Sorry for the overly vague hint about the Naru/Kyu relationship last time. I had been reading Love Hina fics beforehand... I said brother-sister because when Naruto was young (even at 12-13yrs old) the Kyuubi took care of him like a sister would. However, they aren't related by blood, so the relationship will progress.

Chief316 - Naruto doesn't HAVE TO explain the Supremacies. One hint: Don't read the Ancient at face value.

I really shouldn't have to say this in author's notes, but some people are being stupid (no names). This fic's pairing is Naru/Kyu. Not Naru/Hina, and ESPECIALLY NOT Naru/Sasu! The pairing is pretty blunty stated in the story; and EVERYONE that I chat with agrees. So don't suggest the over-used Naru/Hina, and especially don't suggest yaoi pairings.

Edit: Fixed the Shikamaru barking thing...

**As of 9/23/08**: Added a short scene between the Ancient and Zeph.

* * *

Chapter 9 - Darkness Unveiled

Naruto, Jiraiya, Shizune, and Tsunade arrived back in Konoha in several days. The trip was pretty uneventful; at least as uneventful as you can get with two Sannin that are in constant disagreement. The matter of Naruto's tattoos was only brought up several times during the trip, and each time Naruto managed to steer the conversation away.

Once they were in the village, Naruto noticed the almost royal welcome that the two Sannin received. Everyone one in the village, except the younger generation, recognized the pair and greeted them courteously. Jiraiya bragged to the representatives of the council that it was he who solely managed to get Tsunade to come back; Naruto ignored this since it was commonplace in his life. He did calmly remind the old woman that she had some patients to see before assuming her Hokage duties.

On the way to the hospital, the group ran into Shikamaru and his father. Shikamaru said that he had to take care of some annoying business, while his father respectfully greeted Tsunade.

"Who's the young woman with the big attitude?" whispered Shikamaru.

"She's the new Hokage," replied Naruto calmly. "And though she looks young, she's really in her fifties." Shikamaru cringed, and mumbled something like troublesome women.

Once at the hospital, they went first to Sasuke's room. They found Sakura sitting beside the bed gloomily. '_Typical,'_ thought Naruto in disgust. '_She just sits here all day looking at her crush instead of doing something productive.'_ Tsunade quickly went over to Sasuke and with a simple touch to his forehead said that he would be all right and wake up soon. Even before the old hag walked out of the room, Sasuke stirred and sat up. Sakura immediately latched herself onto the Uchiha and cried. '_Pathetic,'_ Naruto turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

Naruto grabbed a quick lunch and made his way to his private training area. '_The problem with the Rasengan is how slow it starts up,'_ analyzed Naruto. '_Maybe if I practice it and get used to how the chakra flows, it'll be faster.'_

"Hey Naruto, I see you got back in one piece," said a voice right behind the genin.

Naruto jumped in surprise. "What the hell?" he yelled. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" the Ancient just smiled mischievously at him. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Finishing the training I owe you," was the calm response.

)))))Flashback(((((

Zeph watched as Yashka fingered a small star shaped object in his hand, "Going off to use your excuse again to freely interact with Ningenkai?"

Even though it was phrased as a question, Zeph meant it as a statement and the Ancient knew he technically didn't have to answer. "Loopholes are made to be jumped through, aren't they?"

"I'm surprised it's not a binding rule."

Yashka shrugged, "I'm allowed to shop aren't I?"

"I suppose."

)))))End Flashback(((((

Yashka absentmindedly fingered the same object that was now in his pocket, '_Shop? Who am I kidding? I'm not doing anything of the sort; albeit remotely similar.'_

Naruto thought a moment before it clicked, "That's all right I'd like to practice the Rasengan right now."

"The Rasengan is a finishing move, like the Chidori," said the young man. "You don't need it to be fast, because by the time you want to finish the battle your opponent will not be in a condition to dodge it."

"Still, I think mine is really slow to start up," stated the genin.

"You can do that on your own time," said the Ancient. "Right now, you are on my time."

"**Kit,"** growled the fox. "**Don't refuse help from someone as powerful as him."**

"Fine," Naruto was forced to give in.

"Great. Now, getting on with the lesson we didn't get to last time: liquid alterations."

"Liquid? Not water?" inquired Naruto.

"That's right," he replied. "You probably haven't noticed it yet, but you've developed your first Doton Supremacy rune."

"What?" asked Naruto bewildered. He knew that the next stage of both his Supremacies were runes, but how come he hadn't felt it?

"Runes are not chakra pathways, in case you are wondering why you hadn't noticed," explained the Ancient. "They are shortcuts, like long combinations of hand seals compressed into one _action_. Basically what happens is that a rune encodes in itself the way chakra must be channeled, so when you go do that particular jutsu, you can just call on the rune and the chakra is distributed for you. Most runes have to do with alterations, thus when you learned how to make poison out of ground, instead of just manipulating it, you gained the first rune."

"So runes are learned, not given," mumbled Naruto.

"Precisely, you had to have done it manually first before the rune can appear."

"Ok, but I don't really have all the regular, simple Suiton jutsus completely mastered," said Naruto. "Shouldn't I learn those before I go on to the advanced techniques?"

"With manipulative control over Suiton, you can have water do whatever the hell you please," the Ancient said in an amused voice. "You don't need to know specific techniques, just imagine what you want to happen and it's done," he chuckled lightly. "Think about it, wouldn't it be a lot faster if you simply willed water or earth to move how you wanted rather than be constrained within the boundaries of particular jutsus you know?"

"Yes, but…"

"I know you're much more accustomed to jutsus," the Ancient cut him off. "Which isn't bad, but if you call out saying: 'Doton: Quicksand', then your opponent knows what is going to happen and he'll get off the ground. Versus, simply putting your palms to ground and not saying anything. This way your opponent has no goddamn clue what you're going to do, except that it's going to be a Doton jutsu."

"But my opponent would then still get off the ground," suggested Naruto.

"Yes, but if you do the Earth Dragon, then simply getting off the ground doesn't help him," said the Ancient with a sly smirk. "And who says you actually have to a _Doton_ jutsu," smirked the young man.

"What do you mean?" wondered Naruto. "If I push chakra into the ground what other elemental jutsu can I do?"

"Ah, but I never said that you push chakra into the ground. I merely said that you put your palms to ground."

Naruto blinked, "Oh… I see," he said slowly. "I bluff on the Doton and instead activate my Suiton Supremacy to surprise him from a completely different angle."

The Ancient nodded, "Of course, everything's fair in love and war, remember that Naruto. You don't _have to_ tell your opponent anything. Genin often brag about their abilities by saying exactly how they managed to beat their opponent. But have you ever heard Kakashi explain how _he_ devised his plan and what sort of jutsus he used. He might have taunted his enemies by analyzing through their techniques and strategies, but he doesn't reveal his own."

Naruto thought back to the fight between Zabuza and Kakashi. It was true; Kakashi talked at length about what Zabuza did but did not say exactly how he came to be the victor. Sure he named Zabuza's faults, but he didn't reveal how he came to win.

"So then, your training?" asked the Ancient.

"Yes! Let's do it!" exclaimed Naruto.

"**You better, that guy probably has a million years of experience."**

"All right, a little bit of theory first," said the Ancient and laughed at the frown on Naruto's face. "Hey, you have to have the background behind the alterations. Otherwise, you'll have to learn each different one from scratch; and there are thousands."

Naruto nodded hesitantly, allowing his teacher to continue. "As you can probably guess, you'll have to activate Supremacy for this." Naruto nodded. "The second thing is that you have to have at least seen the liquid that you have going to alter the water into; it's better to have come in direct contact with it."

Naruto frowned; he hadn't come into contract with acid. "But I haven't come into contact with any acids," he said.

The Kyuubi sighed sadly, "**Sorry to bring back bad memories, but you might want to think back to when you were six years old…**" Naruto looked bewildered for a moment before his face contorted in anger. "**My apologies for the bad memories, but it is for the best right now.**"

The Ancient paused, giving Naruto some time to calm down. "Third, you'll need to know the hand seals, and it's a list of several dozen. However, you don't have to worry, I took the liberty of writing them all out for you," the Ancient took out a piece of paper and placed it in front of Naruto.

The paper was completely covered in kanji. '_Wow…'_ thought Naruto. He would have to make that many hand seals in order to change water into acid. '_This is probably more than Kakashi and Zabuza did for the Suiryuudan no Jutsu.'_

"I think now you understand why runes are used," Naruto nodded dumbly. "Now start doing the seals and change the water in that pond."

"But how will we know if it worked?" wondered Naruto.

"We'll throw something in of course," smiled the Ancient.

"Something?" the blond asked suspiciously.

"Like a log or something, what'd you think?" Naruto breathed out in relief and mumbled something incomprehensible. "Well go on get to it," the young man waved his hand in a 'get going' motion.

Naruto read through the scroll several times before even attempting to go through the hand seals. '_All right, so I'll activate my Suiton Supremacy,'_ Naruto thought and started doing the hand seals. However, when he got through the whole list nothing happened; he didn't even have to throw anything into the water to know that nothing had happened. "Umm, Ancient-sama, why didn't anything happen?"

"You lost the target," was the simple answer. Then seeing that Naruto didn't really get it, the Ancient elaborated. "While making the hand seals you lost sight of the target; namely, the water in the pond. Thus once you had finished the seals, you had no target to alter and the jutsu simply dissipated."

"But holding the target in mind while doing all these hand seals is just a bit hard," said Naruto.

"Then don't. Do about 95 percent of the hand seals and _then_ focus on the target," said the young man. "After all, it's not like you're channeling your chakra into the pond while doing the hand seals."

Naruto nodded in agreement. It was true, hand seals simply gathered chakra in the proper way. After they were done, the chakra could be released in any direction the user wants. Naruto looked over the pond and activated his Suiton Supremacy. He then went through the hand seals again and this time only at the very end did he concentrate his Supremacy on the water in the pond. That's when he felt it, his chakra seeped through the entirety of the pond's water, and when it was done Naruto couldn't feel the pond as well as he had been able to only a minute ago.

"**That's it boy, you did it,"** said Kyuubi. "**Toss a log in and see what happens for yourself, but the fact that your Supremacy can't grasp it as well is a sure indication that you were successful."**

The Ancient walked up next to Naruto with a log in hand and tossed it in. The log floated for a few seconds before slowly disintegrating. "Pretty good for a first try," he complimented. "But that took way too long to destroy the log." The young man suddenly chuckled. "You know, you either got incredibly lucky or the Kyuubi subconsciously helped you out, but the fact of the matter is that when you lightly paused in your hand seals to acquire the target you actually paused right in the middle of the rune combo and the acid hand-seal code."

Naruto blinked several times, "Wait a minute, so that list of hand seals was set to fail on my first try?" demanded Naruto.

"Not quite, it would work," explained the Ancient, "but you wouldn't have gotten the rune. After that I would have given you a slightly torturous task of finding out how to obtain the rune from everything I've given you… but it seems Fortuna smiled upon you today." Naruto narrowed his eyes but said nothing. "So, my agenda for your day has come to an end, I'll see you later," he said and started to walk off.

"Wait a minute," called Naruto. "Even if I have the rune, I still have to practice to make the acid stronger," the Ancient nodded, "How do I do that if I don't have the acid's hand-seal code?"

"You make it up," smiled the young man. "I told you boy, all you need is to have seen the acid, after that you manipulate the water into being whatever you want it to be."

Naruto nodded, but hailed the Ancient again. "Hold up, how do you know we'll meet each other again?"

"Well, shit will happen, and then more shit will happen, and then even bigger shit will happen, and then depending on your actions I might seek you again," vaguely explained the Ancient. "But I have full confidence in you, so I am sure I will seek you out again." He disappeared with that, in a whirl of leaves.

'_Adding the Konoha touch to his exits,'_ scoffed Naruto. '_Still for all his eccentricity he's very knowledgeable and much better than any teacher I've had before.'_

"**Hey! Exactly what do you mean by that?**" demanded an offended fox.

'_Ah… no, no, no, I meant any teachers that I've had in real life,'_ said a panicky Naruto.

"**So I'm not real, is that what you're implying?"**

'_Not at all,'_ jumped Naruto. '_By real, I just meant people that can interact with me in this world instead of inside my mind. I'm sorry if I offended you.'_

The Kyuubi grumbled a little, "**Well apology accepted,"** she said. "**Though, you really should know that the second part was just teasing. After all, I'm smarter than you, so of course I know what you meant."** Naruto scowled and the Kyuubi laughed.

'_Hey Kyuubi, can I ask you something?'_

"**Sure."**

'_What is it with this Ancient guy? I mean how does he know so much?'_

"**He did create the world you know. So he knows basically all there is to know about it. Some say he can even foresee the future."**

'_Then why is he interested in me?'_

"**That I don't know, but maybe he's like you, lonely. From what I know, he lives in separation from the world, often in another dimension. They say that if he actively interacts with the world then the fate of the world gets altered significantly. His responsibility to the world is only to keep it in balance, and by that I mean the balance of good and evil. So really all he has to do is nudge it in the proper direction every so many centuries or millennia, and then he can go back to doing nothing."**

'_Sounds like a horribly boring job,'_ commented Naruto.

"**Then you understand why he would come and do something like this,"** Naruto nodded. "**Though it's still weird because there have never even been any rumors that the Ancient had taken up a student before. Most of the time, it is said that he comes to have fun, hunting, clubbing, girls, fighting tournaments, strategic tournaments, and the like."**

'_So it is weird that he suddenly chooses to train me,'_ mused Naruto.

"**Yes it is, **_**but**_** I'm not about to let you pass up such a great opportunity,"** exclaimed the Kyuubi. "**And this really isn't the time to talk about this, you have unfinished training you need to attend to. I want those logs to disintegrate in a matter of seconds! Hurry, hurry, you still have **_**my**_** training you need to do."**

Naruto nodded tiredly and went back to his water manipulations, which would later be followed my many hours of grueling physical training. By the time Naruto had finished everything the first rays of the sun were peeking over the horizon. Naruto didn't care that it was morning and collapsed onto the ground into a blissful sleep.

After waking up Naruto decided to go into town to get some food. As he was making his way through the streets he was stopped by Iruka and asked out to lunch; not being one to refuse free food the genin agreed. During lunch, the chuunin gave Naruto a summary of everything that had happened in the village while he was gone.

"Shikamaru was made a chuunin?" asked Naruto in amazement.

"He fought the battles with intelligence and thus the council rated him highly and he was promoted," explained the chuunin teacher. "He was the only one to be promoted this year."

"Aha, I see," Naruto pushed his bowl away and stood up. "I need to go."

"Are you going to go visit Sasuke?" kindly asked Iruka. "I heard he has woken up."

Naruto mulled over the idea and decided that it couldn't hurt to see his recovering teammate; after all, if he disagreed it would be suspicious. Naruto walked back to the hospital and went up to Sasuke's room. He peeked in and saw Sakura standing next to the edge of the bed looking like a frightened rabbit. A bowl was lying on the floor, and apple slices were scattered all about. Sasuke was sitting up in bed looking down, anxiety and anger rolling off of him in thick waves.

As soon as Sasuke noticed Naruto, he turned his head and glared at the blond genin as hard as he could. Naruto was shocked, "What's with that look?" he asked the Uchiha while calmly strolling in.

"Hey Naruto," slowly said Sasuke. "Fight me, now!"

"What the hell are you babbling about?" asked Naruto in confusion. "You're still recovering."

"**The arrogant human feels inferior,"** mocked Kyuubi. "**How sad,"** she added sarcastically.

'_Inferior?'_ wondered Naruto. '_But he's been that way for quite some time now.'_

"**But this is the first time he's realized it,"** she explained. "**And it is eating at him. He thinks that by challenging he will grow stronger."**

"Shut up and fight me!" yelled Sasuke with his Sharingan blazing. "You thought you helped me?" asked Sasuke in a low tone. "That foolish Godaime butting into other people's business."

"Oh, so you'd rather be in a Tsukiyomi-induced coma?" asked Naruto and watched Sasuke's anger rise. "Well, I might not be able to use the Tsukiyomi, but I can put you back into a coma if you so like."

"Sasuke-kun, what's wrong with you?" asked Sakura worriedly. "Naruto, tell him to stop." But the boys paid no attention to her.

"Come with me," said Sasuke and flung his head in the direction of the stairs.

"The roof? That's fine with me," said Naruto and calmly followed the arrogant bastard up the stairs, all the while ignoring Sakura's protests.

Once on the roof, the two genin stood facing each other. Naruto smiled and when Sasuke asked what was funny, the blond merely explained that he was happy to be given an opportunity to finally beat the Uchiha. This only riled up Sasuke more, so Naruto added a 'still weak' comment to commence the fight.

The two genin launched themselves at each other, exchanging quick punches and kicks before breaking apart again, neither landing a single blow. Naruto decided to do his trademark Kage Bunshin, to test out the avenger a little. Sasuke was fairing quite well against the first four or five clones, but soon was sent up into the air with three clones kicking him at the same time.

Sasuke had to think quickly; after all there was a Naruto right above him and several dozen down below. The Uchiha realized that a large scale jutsu would be the best right now, and so after blocking the airborne Naruto's attack he did the necessary hand seals and breathed out a Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu.

All of Naruto's clones vanished instantly and Naruto himself had just enough time to produce a water-based defense. While inside his defense, Naruto quickly started making the Rasengan to surprise the Uchiha brat and hopefully end the fight.

Naruto lower his water guard as soon as the fire dissipated. When both jutsus cleared, Sasuke saw a weird chakra orb in the palm of Naruto's hand and instantly knew that he could only counter this using the Chidori. As the two boys jumped at each other, they did not notice the running form of Sakura nor did they notice the presence of their jounin sensei as he jumped to catch the two rivals by their wrists and throw them apart.

'_God damn it! How dare that stuck-up jounin interfere in my fight?'_ fumed Naruto. '_Just when I have a chance to put the arrogant Uchiha in his place, he comes and ruins everything!'_ Naruto purposely landed so that his attack would decimate the water tank. He looked over at Sasuke who was happy that he made the bigger hole in the tank. '_Fucking immature idiot.'_

Naruto ignored Kakashi as he started mildly scolding and lecturing Sasuke. He wondered briefly why the jounin didn't just put the Uchiha back in his place like any other normal person would do. Naruto watched in disgust as Kakashi simply let Sasuke run away and then shared his all too arrogant opinion about Naruto knowing the Rasengan with Jiraiya.

"**Well kit, it's like they say: like teacher, like student. Both are arrogant asses that no one seems to want to put in their place,**" commented the fox. "**It doesn't mean you have to like it, but don't get overly riled up about it."**

Naruto snorted and started to walk toward the stairs, when he caught sight of a crying Sakura. '_Damn it! It's her fault too!'_ Naruto looked down trying to control his rage. "Sakura, don't stop us!"

The girl looked up startled, then her eyes went sad and she looked back down. "Naruto, I need to tell you something. I'll go on a date with you, so come with me."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, '_A date? Does she think I'm desperate or something?'_ however he still followed Sakura along as listened to her story about what had happened in the Forest of Death. '_So that's what happened,'_ thought Naruto. '_Well, I already know about the Curse Seal (nice to know about the method of delivery though).'_

"Orochimaru," said Naruto slowly. "I met him while I was away, and I've overheard about the Curse Seal already."

"Really?" exclaimed Sakura.

"He was one of the legendary three. He's really powerful and very dangerous," said the blond, to Sakura's utter shock. '_Sasuke will easily give in to someone like that. Especially given his avenger nature.'_ Naruto mulled on the idea of Sasuke going to Orochimaru for power, and decided to lie to Sakura. "Don't worry, Sasuke is a strong guy, he won't give in to someone like that."

With that the date was over, Naruto went back home to get some rest. '_So that's what that whole fight was about,'_ thought Naruto, 'd_eciding whether to go with the snake's offer of power.'_

"**Serpents don't give away their power, I hope you understand."**

"Oh I understand, I don't think anyone gives away free power," said Naruto. "Sasuke just thinks that power is gotten and achieved, using his Sharingan as reference of course. That and the fact that Itachi probably never really showed him all the training he did."

"**Who would show such a stupid brother good things?"** wondered the Kyuubi mockingly.

'_I don't feel like thinking about this, I'm going to bed. Mind if I join you tonight Kyu-chan?'_ asked Naruto.

"**Not at all, Naruto-**_**kun**_**," **she replied sweetly and Naruto smiled.

In the morning, Naruto was woken up rather early by obnoxious knocking. (A/N: Author laughs at you if you thought he was going to provide details.) When he opened the door he found Shikamaru on his doorstep telling him that Sasuke had defected and that he had been chosen as part of the team to rescue him. '_God damn bastard wants to defect now?'_ angrily thought Naruto. '_The one time Kyuubi and I are… son of a bitch… I am going to kill that bastard…'_

Naruto quickly dressed and ran out the door, so as not to keep Shikamaru waiting. "So who else is going?"

"I don't know yet, we have to put together a team of genin and go after that guy," replied Shikamaru.

"Genin? Don't the chuunin and jounin usually handle missing-nin missions?" wondered Naruto.

"Yes, but Godaime-sama says that all the chuunin and jounin are out of the village right now, and that genin are the only ones that can do this mission… how troublesome."

"Yea, you said it right there," agreed Naruto. "So who did you have in mind?"

"Chouji," replied Shikamaru.

"Didn't you say skillful?" yelled Naruto. "Wouldn't it be better to get Shino?"

"I've been with Chouji for years, so teamwork comes easily for us," explained Shikamaru.

"Shino is out on a special mission with his dad," said a voice behind the three genin. "I overheard you guys and it sounds like you're in trouble," said Kiba.

"We are making a team to go after Sasuke," explained Shikamaru.

"All right, I'm in then," said Kiba enthusiastically. He then sniffed the air and frowned. "Hey Naruto, it's only morning, how come you are so smelly already?" asked Kiba in an annoyed tone.

"Some of us have hot dreams about a beautiful woman doing all sorts of _things_ to your nether regions…" Kiba's face turned completely red and Naruto decided not to elaborate anymore.

"You're sick, man!" Naruto just laughed at him.

Shikamaru felt this too troublesome to get involved in, though he was slightly embarrassed with what Naruto was hinting at. The Nara genius simply walked away in search of more members to join the rescue mission. That's when they bumped into Lee who was accompanied by Neji, who agreed to come with them on the mission. Shikamaru would have searched for more people, but knew that he had run out of time and decided to keep the current team.

At the gate, Shikamaru quickly formed the best formation and checked everyone's equipment. He finished up with telling his squad that even though Sasuke is not a friend of his, that he is still a fellow shinobi of the Leaf and that that is why they are risking their lives for him. He also mentioned that he was responsible for all their lives, and that even he can't be goofing off now.

Just as they were about to go, they were stopped by a crying Sakura who begged Naruto to bring Sasuke back. Naruto, as much as he hated to say it, agreed that he would do his best to bring Sasuke back. Though inside, Naruto really could care less where the Uchiha avenger wanted to go.

Not long after setting out, Kiba's sense of smell caught the smell of blood. Naruto activated his own to discern that it was the blood of two people and that actually their enemies were moving in a slightly different direction away from the place of battle. '_Too bad I can't relay this information,'_ thought Naruto, but was pleasantly surprised when Kiba picked up on the enemy scent.

"Everybody stop!" suddenly ordered Shikamaru. "Take a good look," he said pointing to the explosive noted taped to the surrounding trees. Shikamaru explained that it's a ninjutsu-type trap that is made to surround the enemy when the enemy enters the trap.

"We have to take a route around it then," said Kiba.

The further they walked the more traps appeared and they weren't hidden well either, meaning that the enemy was in a rush to make them.

"**Or they are far more advanced traps that you don't see and may have already triggered,"** said the Kyuubi gravely.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the thin wire in front of his feet. He bent his head to the side and noticed another wire right where he would have stepped. "Well thought out traps for a rush job," commented the blond.

"Indeed," agreed Shikamaru. "Could this mean?"

"They might be resting. They're either injured or there are more traps around," said Neji. He then activated his Byakugan and proclaimed that he knew their position.

"Good, but don't rush," said Shikamaru in a calm tone. "Let me finish the battle preparations and then we will engage the enemy." Shikamaru laid out the plan before them and told them to split into two squads, one going in front of the enemy and one behind. Shikamaru and Neji being the ones in front of the enemy. While scouting out the enemies Shikamaru suddenly noticed something amiss. "Where is Sasuke?"

"It seems like Sasuke is within that coffin," answered Neji. "There seems to be some sort of barrier surrounding the coffin and it is difficult to see through."

"I doubt that they would kill Sasuke, considering how much they wanted him," reasoned Shikamaru.

Suddenly a kunai hit the tree right next to the two Leaf-nin; there were three explosive notes attached to it. Shikamaru and Neji barely had enough time to jump away before the notes exploded, propelling them forward and right in front of the enemy. '_Shit! Looks like they noticed us,'_ cursed Shikamaru.

"Eh what's this?" said the guy who had something coming out of the back of his neck. "Poked the bush and got two bugs instead of rabbits."

The fat shinobi in the group looked like he was going to attack, so Shikamaru tried to bluff and say that they came to negotiate and not fight. However that attempt was foiled when the six-armed guy pulled out Naruto, Kiba, and Chouji with the use of chakra strings. Kiba threw a smoke bomb, but it didn't help much since the six-armed guy still held on to their feet.

Just when they were going to attack, the Sound shinobi noticed that they were caught in Shikamaru's Kagemane no Jutsu. "Well, you should know that there are also these kinds of techniques."

"Well," countered another Sound-nin, "to return your words: I have 'these' kinds of techniques." Suddenly some shuriken flew towards Shikamaru, who was forced to jump away in order to avoid them and thus had to let go of the Kagemane no Jutsu.

The fat guy quickly knelt down and pressed his palms into the ground, "Doton Kekkai: Doroudoumu." Before the Leaf-nin could react they were caught within an earth dome. "I'll take care of these guys," he proclaimed. "I want to recover even if it's only a little."

"Well, catch up with us as soon as you're done eating," said the spider-guy and all the Sound-nin turned and leapt off with the barrel.

Inside the dome, Naruto knew that he could easily bring it down if he wanted to, but as usual he did not want unnecessary questions to be asked of him. Hence he just waited as both Chouji and Kiba tried to break the walls, with their drill-like techniques. Both failed miserably as the walls repaired themselves.

Naruto lightly scoffed and went back to analyzing the jutsu they were stuck in. '_An interesting technique he's got here,'_ thought Naruto. '_A bit too slow for my taste though.' _Naruto activated his Doton Supremacy and tried to collapse the wall in front of him, but it only shifted in form. '_I see, he's pouring quite a bit of chakra into it, and not only that but the walls are being reinforced with the chakra that is being sucked out from us.'_

Naruto sighed, '_It can't be helped,'_ he turned around and walked to the wall on the opposite side. "The side opposite the fat man will have the least chakra reinforcement," he told his companions.

Everyone just stared at Naruto as if he was possessed. "Naruto, how the hell do you know that?" asked Neji. "That is the same analysis I was just about to give."

"Oh, I just picked up a thing or two here and there," said Naruto with a foxy grin. Upon reaching the opposite wall, the blond shinobi pressed both palms into the wall and let out a bit of chakra to make the wall crumble; the rest of the dome was quickly undone as well.

"Naruto… how did you?" wondered Kiba and Chouji.

"Trade secret," Naruto smiled.

'_He just pushed a little bit of chakra into the wall,'_ thought Neji in shock. '_It's almost as if he willed the wall to come down.'_ Neji then took a closer look at Naruto's chakra system. '_Those weird pathways on his upper arms and shoulders were filled with chakra just a moment ago… could it be a blood limit?'_ wondered the Hyuuga.

'_How did that brat break it?'_ wondered Jiroubou. "So you got out of my blockage," he yelled. "Fabulous job," he continued sarcastically hoping to scare the genin.

"Now that we got out, it's our turn!" yelled Kiba.

"Stop!" commanded Neji. "If we waste too much time here, Sasuke will cross the territorial border."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" asked Chouji.

"We broke the barrier, we can take care of this guy ourselves," boasted Kiba.

"Annoying flies," said Jiroubou while forming hand seals. "You are all merely my prey. Though, you wouldn't even be a snack for me." He slammed his palms into the ground making a small crater.

"Everyone watch out!" yelled Shikamaru. He was going to say more but saw a strange design originated from the ground beneath Naruto's palms and spread under the whole group before vanishing.

"Doton: Plateau Seal," said Naruto and calmly stood up from his crouched position. "No worries, guys." The ground merely vibrated a little, but no explosion happened like the Sound-nin had planned. The said shinobi kneeled with a surprised look on his face and tried the jutsu one more time. "It's useless, you neither know the jutsu nor have enough chakra to break the seal," said Naruto.

"I see you are quite adept in Doton, kid," said Jiroubou. "Well let's see what you do against this. Doton: Doryo Dango!" he said and lifted up a huge mud cannonball.

This did not faze Naruto one bit as he prepared to simply avoid it and in the confusion get behind the stupid bastard. However, it was not to be as Chouji slammed into the mud cannonball and broke into a million pieces.

"Guys, we need to split up from here," said Shikamaru. "We have no time."

"You really think you can defeat me when you split up?" taunted the Sound-nin. "Must be tedious to work under such a foolish leader, huh underling?"

"He's mine!" announced Chouji. "I'll take care of him!"

"Chouji…" said Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru, give these soldier's pills to everyone else," said the big-boned shinobi and threw the leader a small pouch.

"Chouji, you've got to be kidding me?" yelled Shikamaru.

They argued for a little bit, but Shikamaru was forced to give in to his best friend and Chouji was left to fair against the far Sound shinobi. The rest of the group soon found out about Chouji's trump card too, but the lazy leader did not go into too much detail about the horrible side effects.

Naruto listened quietly while the rest of the group questioned Chouji's ability of beating the Sound-nin by himself. '_He was the weakest, I think,'_ mused Naruto about the Sound-nin's strength. '_Though they all seemed overconfident.'_ Naruto wondered too if the overweight ninja would be rejoining, but didn't oppose carving arrows in trees to show him the direction. '_Not like anyone else will be following.'_

After a while, Kiba finally announced that they were getting close. "How odd, there hasn't been a single trap so far," said Neji.

"I think we're just being underestimated," replied Shikamaru. "They're thinking that their teammate is the only one who would follow them. No one sets traps against their comrades."

"Well, that's good," said Naruto in an excited voice. "Their loss for underestimating us."

Neji agreed and said that this would certainly give them a chance. "Yea, let's get them while they're vulnerable," said Shikamaru.

Shikamaru transformed into Jiroubou, but failed in imitating his personality, and thus the Leaf-nin were left to face off with Kidoumaru. Shikamaru was pinned to a tree by a web shot out of the Sound-nin's mouth. Naruto attacked with five clones all of which were caught in a net. Kiba's feet were tangled up with sticky web and he was stuck to the tree trunk he landed on. Neji seemed to be in a good attacking position, but Kidoumaru just cut the strings he was hanging on and thus avoid the Hyuuga's attack, wrapping him up in a cocoon.

"Damn it, I can't cut this web!" shouted one of Naruto's clones.

"My web is unbreakable," announced the Sound ninja proudly. "It can even support two elephants. Isn't it interesting? Kage Bunshin." Kidoumaru made some sort of weapons out of his web and started throwing them at Naruto's clones in a sort of game to see how long the Leaf-nin could survive.

Naruto hid his presence and waited until Kidoumaru was down to the last clone before making his move. '_This should be when his guard is lowest since he thinks I'm dead for sure,'_ analyzed Naruto. The blond Leaf-nin jumped from his hiding place and aimed to punch the Sound-nin in the back of the head. Unluckily Kidoumaru sensed the attack and was able to block it, and jump away to prevent a consecutive strike. The Sound-nin also managed to grab Naruto's arm with one of his web strings and pull him down; though Naruto was quickly freed when Neji cut the string.

The Hyuuga genius went on to explain that things that are made from charka will be destroyed by putting chakra into them. He then commanded the rest of the group to go on ahead of him, as he was the only one that could take on this particular enemy. Neji told Naruto that Sasuke is within darkness right now and that the blond is the only one who could bring him back. Mentally Naruto scoffed at the proposition, but on the outside he nodded calmly.

This time the Leaf-nin were forced to run for the whole night before catching up to the enemy in the early morning. "It's a three-on-two advantage," said Shikamaru. "We should be able to defeat them easily."

"It's four on two," said Kiba and Akamaru barked.

Naruto rolled his eyes. '_That's like me saying five on two because I have the Kyuubi.'_ Naruto and Kiba listened carefully to Shikamaru's plan, which was rather simple, not fight the enemy shinobi but rather go for the barrel that Sasuke was in. Naruto agreed with the plan, since that bastard was the objective of their mission anyway.

The actual barrel-retrieval process went off without a hitch, but when it came to getting away that's when everything went downhill. First, Akamaru got stuck while placing a trap and so he, Kiba, and Sakon were thrown down a cliff. Second, the barrel opened up and a white-haired, dark-skinned Sasuke climbed out. Naturally, running away towards the Sound border being his first priority. Naruto, of course, was nominated to follow him while Shikamaru held off Tayuya. However, it took quite a bit of coordination between the Leaf chuunin and genin to even get past the Sound kunoichi.

Naruto chased after Sasuke for quite a while before finally gaining on him at a waterfall's edge. "Sasuke!" yelled the blond. "What, are you going to run away?" screamed Naruto.

Sasuke calmly turned around to reveal his Curse Seal altered left eye. "Hey, dumbass, is it you this time?" Naruto frowned. "I told Sakura this, don't bother me anymore. What's with the grim face?"

'_I may as well play along with my mask for a little while,'_ thought Naruto. "Why Sasuke, what made you like this?" yelled Naruto.

"What does any of this have to do with you?" asked Sasuke coldly. "I have my own path and I won't let anyone lead me any other way, no matter who it is."

Naruto held true to his mask and tried to convince Sasuke with words, but finally just snapped and jumped at the Uchiha avenger punching him hard in the face. He proceeded to try and talk to him even more, but Sasuke was completely unresponsive. Naruto was surprised when Sasuke was able to lift him up with one hand and then punch him hard enough that the blond flew off the edge.

Naruto fell down the waterfall and into the water below. '_Fine, no more stupid games,'_ raged Naruto and climbed out onto the surface of the water. The blond ran on top of the water and jumped up at Sasuke. The Uchiha in turn jump down to meet his former teammate halfway.

Sasuke was surprised when Naruto was able to dodge his attacks and kick him into the wall. Naruto jumped at Sasuke once again, but this time the Uchiha was able to block Naruto and punched the blond. However, Naruto used the momentum from the punch to flip himself backwards and kick Sasuke in the chin. The falling Naruto, then managed to stick to the side of the wall and run up it to throw his opponent down onto the water.

'_He's on my turf now,'_ thought Naruto slyly. "We did everything as team seven, was that meaningless to you?" asked Naruto in, what he knew, was a vain attempt.

"No, it was not meaningless," replied the Uchiha. "To me, you have become my closest friend. That is why it is worth killing you."

"You have really fucked up mentality, you know that right?" asked Naruto. "But fine, whatever you want, at least provide me with a good fight."

Sasuke scowled and ran at Naruto. The two squared off in some taijutsu, before Sasuke did a few hand seals and tried to burn Naruto with a fireball again. This time it was even easier for Naruto to block, since he practically willed the water to rise up in front of him and act as a wall for the fireball.

Sasuke wondered for a moment how Naruto was doing that, but quickly decided that it didn't matter and that the Chidori would cut through any kind of water wall Naruto tried to put up. The Uchiha jumped back until he was gliding down the waterfall and activated his Chidori, to which Naruto immediately prepared his Rasengan.

The two finishing moves met and mixed into an unstable blob that exploded, knocking the two shinobi far away from each other. Sasuke was the first to get up and was quite angry that his full-power Chidori only went that far. He activated the first level of Curse Seal and prepared for battle again.

"Do you know, Naruto, that if both you and your opponent are first-class shinobi, you can only read each other's minds when your fists meet?" asked Sasuke. "There is no need for words. You're naive aren't you, Naruto?" Naruto looked down in contemplation. "Can you read the true mind? My mind!" yelled Sasuke.

"**Just let him go,"** suddenly said the Kyuubi.

'_What?_' yelled Naruto.

"**Let him go to the snake man**," she repeated. "**But make him feel weak first**."

'_But... why?'_ asked Naruto.

"**It is a little trick I've seen the dragons use against the serpents. They give them what they want, appeasing them for a little while. However, when it comes time to fight again and the serpents use the power the dragons surrendered to them, they suddenly come to realize that the dragons really didn't care about giving it away. Why, you ask? Simple, the dragons already had something far stronger, better, and more powerful. Not only that, but since it had been theirs, they know all of its weaknesses**." She paused and her tone darkened, "**I quote the previous ruler of the Dragon Clan: 'Serpents are mere scavengers, they take what we have no more use for and then use it against us. What they fail to realize is that our waste is simply that, waste. We just make it look like we don't want them to have it**.'"

Naruto listened carefully, but still one thing bothered him. '_But the Uchiha blood is not something Konoha considers waste.'_

"**It has been waste ever since one person was able to kill the entire clan in only a few hours**," corrected the Kyuubi. "**Humans have always had a pack-rat complex when it came to throwing away old power sources. The Uchiha clan fell back then; Konoha simply doesn't understand that it needs to let that go and move on**," finished the fox, and Naruto resolved to do just that.

The Uchiha was about to attack when Naruto interrupted him, "Yes, I can."

"What?" said Sasuke. "You're lying."

"I understand all about you wanting revenge and the like," said Naruto evenly. "Though you're means of obtaining power is stupid, I can understand it."

"You're spouting nonsense again, dumbass," said Sasuke in a taunting tone.

"You want to go!? Do you!?" yelled Naruto; Sasuke fixed him with an even glare. "Then go to that snake! I won't try to stop you. Actually I don't give a fucking rat's ass what happens to you." Sasuke looked at Naruto as if he had lost his mind. "What's the matter? Surprised?" Sasuke just continued to stare. "You say you want to kill me, to finally activate your Mangekyou, well let me let you in on a little secret, Uchiha, I was NEVER your friend!"

Sasuke shook at the devoid-of-emotion voice, "W-w-what? How did you know about the Mangekyou requirement?"

"That's right, you, Sakura, Kakashi, Iruka and most everyone else in that village are not my friends. Great act I put on everyday, huh? To be able to fool the entire village into thinking that I actually care," Naruto gave an emotionless chuckle, "and to do that for five years straight... it's quite aggravating, especially when we can't kill anyone on our missions. As for the Mangekyou thing, it's obvious with how much you obsess over your brother."

Sasuke stared at his former teammate in absolute disbelief and anger, '_He actually faked it all; all of his hyper-ness was fake, a mask that he wore... but why? What is he hiding from and why?'_ Sasuke looked down at his own reflection in the river, "Why pretend when you have the means?" he asked while intently focusing on his underdeveloped Sharingan.

"Simple, simple Sasuke, haven't you ever heard that 'revenge is never a straight path'?"

"But you don't want revenge..."

"I don't?" asked Naruto innocently, "You're still living in the past Sasuke, believing me to be a naive, innocent and ignorant little boy."

Sasuke was confused and it showed. "What do you have to get revenge for; you didn't even know your parents?"

"All of them," answered Naruto curtly and vaguely, "all those fucking sons of bitches back from where you are running from. Why do I pretend, you ask? Because this way it is much easier to infiltrate their closest-knit circles and then, when everyone trusts me, I will show them the true Uzumaki. I will rip apart the very fabric of life those assholes hold on to so preciously, and yet don't actually acknowledge just how lucky they all are," finished Naruto, his tone getting more spiteful and hate-filled with every word.

Sasuke found himself half-frozen due to the killer intent Naruto was releasing.

"Go then, Uchiha!" commanded Naruto. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"And you will just go back, and put your mask back on, is that it?" asked Sasuke somewhat sadly. "Won't it be hard to lie in a completely healed state?" he wondered.

"No use for sadness now, Uchiha, you're about to receive your long-awaited _free_ power," countered Naruto. "And me? Yes, I'll go back. As for the lying, don't worry too much, I know a jutsu that reverses my healing process," Naruto smirked darkly. '_At least the Kyuubi does, and she can help me out with the casting of it.'_

"Take care of yourself Uchiha Sasuke... If we meet again, I'll kill you." Naruto turned around and walked off, sinking into the water with each step.

Sasuke stood there for a few minutes before moving again, '_Damn him! He's always hidden his power away from me!'_ Sasuke's fist tightened as he turned around and jumped off in the direction of the Sound Village.

Naruto watched him go from the top of the waterfall, "You can come out now… Gaara."

The Sand-nin rose up from the ground in a whirl of sand. "Was it really all right to let him go like that?"

Naruto scoffed, "How strong can a person really become on power that is not their own?" Naruto did not wait for an answer. "Plus, we are containers for demons, what do we have to fear from messily humans?"

"They have means of overpowering us, otherwise these demons wouldn't be inside our bodies now," pointed out Gaara.

"That may be true, but that is why I'm planning to rip them apart from the inside out."

"I thought you formed a bond with these humans?" inquired Gaara. "That you cared for them, and that is how you were so strong when you fought me."

"No, Gaara, you misunderstood the meaning of my words," said Naruto coolly. "I said that I found someone to fight for, I did not specify her species."

Gaara's eyes widened in realization, "You're fighting for the Kyuubi? She is your precious person?"

"Yes."

"I see," said Gaara slowly. "Then what you told me before, was that a lie? For there is no way I can see the Shukaku the same way you see the Kyuubi."

"You don't have to, you have siblings that you can care for," explained Naruto.

"But those siblings are human," countered Gaara. "By your reasoning, I shouldn't rely on humans for my power."

Naruto was becoming frustrated, "I've told you about my path and what I hope to accomplish in my life," the blond said in an annoyed tone. "You have your own path that I cannot set. For that path you may be able to integrate your siblings into being your precious people."

"I see," was the calm reply.

Naruto turned to walk away, but stopped for a quick second. "I'll assume this little talk and what really happened here will stay between the two of us?"

"Of course," said Gaara.

"On our demonic honor?" questioned Naruto.

"Yes," agreed Gaara. "I will never tell anyone the truth of this incident."

"Good," said Naruto happily. "Otherwise, I'd have to kill you right now," he added in a dark tone. Gaara narrowed his eyes a little, but said nothing. "One last thing…"

"Hmm?"

"I'll need you to carry me back to the village," said Naruto and started a list of hand seals.

"Why can't you walk by yourself?" asked Gaara. However, as soon as Naruto finished the seals, the blond collapsed backwards onto the ground next to Gaara. The Sand-nin's eyes widened in shock, for there lay Naruto covered from head to toe in wounds big and small. '_This must be the jutsu he was referring to,'_ perceived Gaara. '_Quite something… to go this far to exact revenge on the people that hurt you the most in childhood.'_

Gaara quickly but cautiously picked up the injured Naruto with his sand and started the slow trek back to Konoha. "The demon that has caused you so much pain, is actually the one you love the most," mumbled the Sand shinobi. "Ironic…"

* * *

I really dreaded writing this chapter, I mean the whole mission is SO LONG! Especially when Naruto and Sasuke start talking... man I hate how Naruto is such an ignorant idiot in the manga. But I quite calmly cut out all that shit. You know there is a sort of power in being able to truncate one chapter into one paragraph... especially when you cut out all the annoying fights and dialogue. As I said before, anyone that wants the fully story on what happened go re-read the manga, I feel no need to recount things that do not change.

Let me guess, just when you thought you had Supremacies figured out, I throw in another element. Well, runes aren't the end, there's more to be seen later.

About the new angle on the Uchiha: it just came to me when I was looking for a reason why Naruto would suddenly reveal himself. Yes, I had the whole speech planned before I even had a reason for it... don't ask how my mind works... (I actually almost forgot to put this little bit into the chapter... good thing I read my own author's notes.)

Next chapter: Naruto leaves the village; conflict of interests, but the weak lose to the strong; training begins.


	10. Of Departures and Teachings

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Thank you to all my reviewers!

"blah" speech  
"_blah_" thoughts  
"**blah**" Kyuubi's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Kyuubi's thoughts

Dairokkan - I was wondering when this would come up... Technically yes, but I'm still working out its quirks and limitations.

bardiel132003 - I understand your concerns. Don't worry I have already thought of them.

Baka Shinobi - Hey, c'mon they're just starting early. Plus people in middle school (that's ages 12-14) do this kind of stuff, so it's not like I'm breaking taboo or anything.

firebirds416 - 10-12 hours of writing, that's the average. Not continuous writing, of course, spaced out over several days. This chapter took a good 15 to 20.

Peter Kim - The Ancient has his own motives... and Orochimaru is a mere serpent... Naruto will have better allies later.

mystik - Kabuto died so, in turn, Kimimaro wasn't able to recieve the medical attention he needed and also died.

Death's little side kick - The end of the fic isn't planned yet.

About Neji's arm, sorry I forgot to explain that in the previous chapter, but I'll make a note of it in this one. (and I didn't even realize until the reviews... -curses self-)

Well, here it is, the second arc of the story. Summarization and necessary adjustment of the manga is done. Now comes the fun stuff for the author, he gets to make up most everything. It's more work, I have to describe more things, but it's worth it.

**As of 9/27/08**: Fixed the ruins on Naruto's clothes.

* * *

Chapter 10 – Of Departures and Teachings

When the two demon carriers were halfway back to Konoha, Kakashi intercepted them and inquired what had happened. Since Gaara was the only one conscious, he told the Leaf jounin that he had come too late and that Sasuke had already fled leaving Naruto in badly beat-up state. The jounin was suspicious of the Sand-nin, but didn't openly comment about it. Instead he took Naruto from Gaara saying that he was the faster of the two and raced off towards Konoha hospital.

At the hospital, Shikamaru was waiting to hear if his best friend, Chouji, had survived. '_Damn it! He was forced to use the third pill,'_ Shikamaru cursed. '_If only I had been a better leader this wouldn't have happened.'_ The lazy chuunin started pacing back and forth in the waiting room, effectively annoying a certain blond Sand-nin.

In another part of the hospital, a large seal was drawn into the floor and Neji's two arrow-hole wounds were being repaired with the use of the boy's hair. One of the senior medics in the room remembered this boy. "Only a few days after we release him from having his arm torn off, he's back in here with life threatening wounds again."

"Such is the life of shinobi," seriously said Shizune. "That is why Medic-nins are a necessity. Whether it's healing minor scrapes and cuts or re-attaching torn off limbs that is our duty as Medical shinobi."

"Yes, though he was lucky that Tsunade-sama came, we wouldn't have been able to properly re-attach his arm otherwise."

"You did a very good job at keeping it in stasis though," praised Shizune.

"We only did that because Gai-san told us that Tsunade-sama was coming back."

"I understand," said Shizune quietly. "But we must focus on the task at hand now. Go replace your comrade!" she pointed to a fatigued medic, "he's been at it for several hours now."

))))) Several Days Later (((((

Chouji, Kiba, Neji, and Naruto were all hospitalized, some in worse conditions that others. Shikamaru was the only one that was discharged from the hospital the very same day, and he was now visiting his teammates.

Chouji had luckily survived the after-effects of the third pill; the Godaime-sama had been able to make an antidote. Kiba's wound was healing rather well; it was Akamaru that everyone was worried about. The dog was quite banged up from that battle and it would be a month or two before he could walk again. Neji was also set on a good recovery course. The doctors said they wanted to keep him in the hospital for more tests, but from what Shikamaru understood, they simply wanted to keep the boy out of harm's way for at least a month; what with having his arm being torn off and then receiving those holes in his shoulder and abdomen, he was lucky to be alive.

Shikamaru had one last person to visit, he knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Shikamaru walked into the room, "Hey Naruto, how are you?" asked the lazy chuunin.

"Good, I'm in perfect health," said the blond shinobi with a smile. He was currently unwrapping his bandages.

"You've healed already?" asked Shikamaru incredulously; he had heard that Naruto's injuries were the worst.

"I heal quickly," replied Naruto. "By the way, shut the door please, the doctors don't believe that I've healed already and aren't letting me go. Do you know how boring it is to sit here all day?"

Shikamaru sighed, but did as his friend requested. He was amazed when Naruto unwrapped all the bandages and showed him perfectly healthy skin. "And the doctors don't believe you?" he asked in amazement.

"Nope," Naruto sulked a little. "They say some stupid stuff like, 'with those wounds it'll take at least three weeks.' It's rather tiring to listen to." Naruto walked over to the closet and took out his regular clothes. "Well, I'm going to leave now. Was there anything you wanted?" Naruto asked as he opened the window.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing and inform you on the conditions of the others," responded Shikamaru.

"Oh, well as you can see I'm doing fine," Naruto flashed a foxy grin. '_I don't care too much about the others, but I may as well ask,'_ thought Naruto. "How are the others?"

Shikamaru recapped what had happened to Kiba, Chouji, and Neji and explained that they were on the road to recovery.

"Neji's less of an asshole now," commented Naruto.

"Yeah, you seemed to have made him reconsider his theories about fate," said Shikamaru. "I also heard that his uncle showed him a scroll or something left by his father."

Naruto scoffed, "But arrogant bastards will stay arrogant bastards." Shikamaru knew whom the blond was referring to, but before he could say anything as certain pink-haired girl walked in the room and Naruto's smile dropped a little.

'_That's right, the failed mission,'_ assumed the lazy boy.

"Sakura, what are you doing here?" asked Naruto. '_No Sasuke to visit, so she comes to talk to me.'_

"Naruto, about Sasuke…?" timidly asked the pink-haired shinobi.

Naruto exchanged a look with Shikamaru, '_Damn it, I can't just bluntly tell her the bastard ran away in the presence of Konoha's genius.'_

"The mission was unsuccessful," stated Shikamaru.

Sakura looked over at Naruto and saw that his head was down. "Don't worry about it, Naruto, next time we'll get him together."

'_I'm not worried, you stupid bitch,'_ thought Naruto. '_And next time, I'm going to kill the Uchiha avenger, so it will be better if you are not with me.'_ On the outside Naruto just smiled.

At that moment Tsunade walked in to check up on Naruto. "Hi Naruto," she greeted warmly before she realized he had his clothes on. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Out," stated Naruto. "I'm completely healed."

"You can't be completely healed," the Hokage stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh? Can't be?" Naruto glanced at Shikamaru and Sakura before giving the Godaime a knowing look.

"All right, both of you out!" ordered the Hokage and ushered out Shikamaru and Sakura. "So you're telling me that the fox has already healed you up?"

"Yup," he smiled. "All I needed was a couple days of sleep."

"Well, get over here then so I can examine you and give you a proper discharge from the hospital."

"You mean jumping out of the window and not coming back here would have been improper?" joked Naruto.

"If you did that I would have had you found and chained to the bed," Naruto grimaced. After a few minutes, Tsunade had confirmed that Naruto was in top shape and officially discharged him from the hospital. "Naruto, come around my office tonight, we have something to discuss," she said and left.

'_Something to discuss?'_ wondered Naruto. '_Did she find out about our relationship?'_

"**I don't think so, kit,"** replied the Kyuubi.

'_But how can you be so sure?'_

"**Just trust me,"** said the fox. "**Call it woman's intuition if you like."**

Naruto grumbled, but said nothing as he headed home. Home was boring as usual, so the blond went on for long run, but made sure that he wasn't too tired when it came time to meet with the Godaime.

'_I really hope that this is not about the Kyuubi,'_ prayed Naruto as he knocked on the Hokage's door.

"Yes," said an annoyed voice.

Naruto walked in to find the Godaime half asleep with a mountain of paperwork in front of her and Jiraiya sitting on a couch not far from the woman. "Glad you could join us Naruto," she smiled and motioned him to sit down on the chair in front of her. "This might come as a big surprise, but I'm sending you to train with Jiraiya."

"Sending me to train? As in, out of the village?" questioned Naruto. "And with that pervert?"

Tsunade nodded, "He may be a pervert, but he's a good shinobi and you can learn a lot from him."

Naruto weighed his choices. He could refuse and stay here where he would be taught by Kakashi and made to do boring missions. Or he could leave and travel with the Ero-Sennin while getting trained by one of the legendary three. '_Well this is a pretty easy choice,'_ he smiled. "I'll go train!"

"Good! You'll leave the day after tomorrow," announced Tsunade.

"Naruto, don't pack too much," said Jiraiya.

"All right, I got it," yelled Naruto.

Naruto spent most of the next day training, and only late at night did he pack his backpack. '_My last night in this shit-hole,'_ he thought. '_I wonder what I'll be able to learn from Jiraiya.'_

"**I still wish you were going to train with the Ancient,"** Kyuubi sulked. "**He's leaps and bound above of any human."**

"Well, we can't always get what we want," said Naruto sadly.

The next day, Jiraiya and Naruto set out for three years of training. The morning was rather uneventful, since all they did was walk. Around midday, Jiraiya stopped Naruto to give him a two shin guards and two forearm protectors.

"What the hell are these for?" asked Naruto.

"Those are weight holders," explained Jiraiya. "I heard that you met Lee, Gai's student. Then you should know that these will make you stronger and faster."

Naruto nodded and put on the weight holders. Jiraiya then put in ten pounds into each, "There, you'll start off with 40 pounds and we'll increase it from there."

Naruto moved his arms and legs to see how it would feel, and didn't really like how all of his movements were lagged from what he was used to. '_Well, this is part of the training I guess,'_ thought Naruto.

"All right, now run half a mile ahead of me, then return, and continue doing that until we reach the next city," commanded the old man.

Naruto frowned, "How far away is the next city exactly?"

"Oh, we should get there by nightfall," said Jiraiya and pushed Naruto to go.

"When do we start learning jutsus?" asked the blond.

"When we get your speed and taijutsu up to a decent level," stated the toad sannin. "Now go or you'll be sleeping outside tonight!"

Naruto reluctantly started running. "**This is a good exercise for you, kit,"** commented the fox.

'_I know, I know, it's just that I've done plenty of this running back in the village, can't he come up with something more original?'_

"**Probably not, after all his head is filled with ideas for his hentai novels."** The blond sighed and decided not to think along these lines anymore.

By the time the sun set, the city wasn't even within sight. "Hey, Ero-Sennin, I thought you said we were gonna get there before dark?"

"Well it seems that you weren't running fast enough so we'll have to camp out here tonight," said Jiraiya plainly.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "You were the one walking slow, don't try to pin this on me."

"Whatever, just go gather firewood," ordered Jiraiya.

Naruto growled a little, but went anyway. What was he going to do, refuse and then freeze his ass off in the cold of night?

"I bet he's going to have me set up camp too," mumbled Naruto.

"You're right, he is," came a voice from the tree about him.

Naruto didn't have to look up to know who it was; this was just about the only person who could sneak up on him without even trying. "Hello, Ancient-san," greeted Naruto as he continued to pick up firewood.

"Got stuck with the pervert as a sensei, huh?"

"Yeah, but he's one of the legendary three, so he should be able to teach me some good things," reasoned Naruto.

"That's true," nodded the young man. "But I can teach you more."

"What?" asked Naruto in shock. "Do you mean that you want to teach me?" The Ancient nodded. "Really?" the Ancient nodded again. "But how, I mean I already have a teacher?"

"Simple, just leave him," said the Ancient.

"Just leave him?"

"Look, I can only do so much. If you want to be my student you will have to show some initiative."

"So you want me to stand up to Jiraiya and force him to let me leave and train with you?" asked Naruto.

"Something like that. Though when push comes to shove, I'll make the final argument," reassured the Ancient.

Naruto did not even have to think about it, he knew the Ancient would be a much better teacher than Jiraiya. Thus the blond agreed instantly, and went back to the campsite to tell Jiraiya.

"Hey Naruto what are you doing back so soon?" questioned Jiraiya. "And without any firewood."

"I'm leaving," was the reply.

"Leaving?" asked Jiraiya suspiciously.

"I've found a better teacher and I'm leaving to train with him," explained the genin and he picked up his backpack.

"You can't leave," said the old man.

"Why not?"

"Who is this other teacher?" inquired Jiraiya apprehensively. "I want to meet him. I bet I can kick his ass, so there is no way he's taking you away."

"Is that so, Jiraiya-kun?" asked a voice from the side.

Jiraiya turned and his face paled. "A-Ancient-sama," he stuttered.

"You were saying something about kicking my ass, well?" said the Ancient with a small smirk.

Jiraiya tried hard to regain his composure. "You know, you can't simply waltz in here and take away my student."

"Yeah, I suppose that's a little unfair," said the Ancient. "Then, I'll fight you for him; winner takes all." The Ancient slipped into a loose fighting stance.

Jiraiya was horrified. He knew there was no way he could even match up to the Ancient. The only choice he had was to try to reason with him, but that was proving difficult. "Can we talk, in private?" offered Jiraiya.

The Ancient took one look at his future student and nodded in agreement. The pair walked out of Naruto's hearing distance and the Ancient set up a small sound barrier. "So what is it that you wanted to say?"

"Seriously, you can't just come and my student away as you please," said Jiraiya angrily.

"Why not?"

'_Yes, indeed, why not?'_ wondered Jiraiya. "I thought you didn't interfere with this world? And yet here you are, wanting to train a shinobi, with Hidden Village affiliations I might add, for three whole years."

To the Ancient this wasn't anything more than small talk, so he answered in a calm light voice with a small confident amused smirk. "You shouldn't assume things; it's not good for your health. To answer your question, I'm not going to be training Naruto in this dimension, and even if I were three years is naught but a drop of water in the ocean for me."

"You realize that an organization called Akatsuki is after Naruto, right?" the Ancient simply nodded. "I need to train him well enough, so that he will be able to oppose them within three years. He can't just be taken out of the village for training for an indefinitely amount of time," reasoned Jiraiya.

"So what are you proposing?"

"I propose that if he really wants to be your student, that you at least let me come along and monitor his progress."

The immortal's smirk vanished and his face darkened, "Do you think that I am incompetent as a teacher? Do you think that I will not be able to train him well enough to deal with some S-Class shinobi?" he said in a very dangerous tone. "And all things considered, you cannot make such a demand of me!"

"But you don't understand…"

The Ancient cut him off, "If you are worried that he will not come back in three years, then rest assured that that is more than enough time, _for me_, to get Naruto up to S-class."

"But you see…"

"I don't care about your personal problems with this," said the Ancient darkly. "It is not my problem what you need to write to the Godaime Hokage reporting Naruto's progress. If you are really worried about it, then just drop off the face of the earth for three years until Naruto is supposed to come back, and then return to the village when I have already brought him back."

"Still, you can't just…"

"You don't seem to understand," said the Ancient calmly. "I already did and there is no way you can stop me from taking him. So as things stand now, you have little choice but to let him go. I promise to you, on my honor, that I will have Naruto back to Konoha in three years."

The Ancient then dropped the sound barrier and walked back to the campsite, leaving Jiraiya in a defeated state. '_He's right, I can't do anything to stop him,'_ thought Jiraiya. '_I just hope Tsunade doesn't kill me when she finds out.'_

"Naruto, let's go," said the young man.

Naruto nodded and the Ancient placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder. The next thing Naruto knew the scenery around him went black for a couple seconds and then they were in front of a small house in the middle of a grassy field. "We'll stay here for the night," said the Ancient.

"How did you do that?" asked Naruto.

"What, teleportation? I'll teach you that in due time."

The two walked into the house and Naruto was amazed that it was perfectly clean and some old man was already preparing dinner. The Ancient showed Naruto to one of the rooms, and then bade him to sit in the living room while waiting for dinner.

"Umm, Ancient-san, what did you and Jiraiya talk about?" inquired Naruto. "I couldn't hear it even with my advance hearing."

"I put up a small sound barrier, that's why you couldn't hear it," explained the Ancient. "We simply talked about your training. The stupid pervert tried to reason with me, so that I wouldn't take you away from him; rather lame arguments he used."

Naruto nodded and silence passed between them again; though the silence seemed only to eat at Naruto and not his teacher. "Ancient-sensei, I know that the Ancient is your title, so do you have a name?" asked Naruto.

The Ancient turned to examine Naruto before finally speaking. "It's Yashka."

"Yashka?" wondered Naruto. "That's a strange name."

"It is a name not of this world," said Yashka calmly. "You may call me that or the Ancient, it doesn't matter too much to me." Naruto nodded. "Though, I do not want you telling my name to anyone else that doesn't already know it."

"So in public I have to refer to you as Ancient?"

Yashka nodded, "But we won't be getting out into public too much over the next several years."

The old man from before walked into the living room and bowed to the Ancient. "Dinner is done, master."

"Good," acknowledged the young man and motioned to Naruto to come to the dining room.

They sat down on opposite ends of a medium-sized dining table that was completely covered in many dishes, some of which Naruto had never seen. "You must be hungry, eat up," said the Ancient.

Naruto looked over the selection and heard his stomach grumble, "Itadakimasu!" he yelled and reached over to grab several things. The Ancient was much calmer and simply reached over to a few things close to him. After a minute or two, Naruto suddenly remembered about the old man. "Hey, isn't that old man going to eat with us?"

"He does not require food," was the reply.

"Huh?"

Yashka sighed and called over the old man, he then tapped the man in several places on his torso before finally hitting him in the forehead. The man instantly burst into dust, leaving only a small coin-shaped charm on the floor. "They are not alive, my servants," said the Ancient. "They have been with me for several dozen millennia; this one for two. They are what you would call the undead." He noticed Naruto's completely confused look. "I'll explain more later, but basically these," he lifted up the charm, "are just souls without a body."

"They are ghosts basically."

"Sort of, but most ghosts are just souls that are bound to the plane their previous bodies died because they have not fulfilled what they came to do. I clean out those souls every few centuries, but these cannot go back because of certain happenings in their lives."

"What sort of happenings in their lives?" wondered Naruto.

"These souls have either done something to me and are now paying retribution, or they have made some demands of me the price of which was servitude."

Naruto looked at the Ancient incredulously, "You mean you're taking revenge on these souls?" asked Naruto.

The Ancient nodded, "The former is revenge, but the latter is just fair repayment."

"Repayment for what?" questioned Naruto.

Yashka sighed, "In plain terms, for granting them a miracle. Like the healing of terminally ill relatives or lovers, or helping people out that were completely lost in the darkness."

"**What humans would call, 'An act of God,'"** commented the Kyuubi.

"Why? Why grant these wishes to humans?" inquired Naruto. "You make it sound like you don't like death."

"I've seen more of it than you could ever imagine," stated Yashka darkly. "Don't think, however, that I would hesitate when the time comes. I've killed billions; one more here and there makes little difference to me. You're lucky, you know, you've never seen anyone you cherish more than anything die right in front of your eyes, and you not being able to do a single thing about it."

Naruto really didn't know what to say to that, so he just picked up his food and started eating again. Meanwhile, the Ancient re-made the old man and sent him off. Neither teacher nor student spoke a word to each other until the food was gone.

"Naruto, get some sleep, tomorrow we're relocating and beginning your training," announced Yashka.

"Relocating?" wondered Naruto, Yashka nodded. "To where?"

"To the place where you will begin the first part of your training," replied Yashka.

"Where is this place?"

"If I tell you it's in Roulsotha, will that mean anything to you?" asked an annoyed Ancient.

"No," replied Naruto sheepishly.

"Then don't ask. Now, I'll see you in the morning at nine o'clock, be up and ready to go by then," the Ancient simply vanished.

Naruto sat there for a little while, thinking, finally moving when the old man came by to pick up the plates in front of the blond shinobi. Naruto quietly made his way to his bedroom and went to bed. '_He's even more of a mystery than when I first met him,'_ thought Naruto.

"**He's like that,"** said the fox. "**He tells you about himself in vague terms, so that it seems you know everything, but in reality you know nothing."**

'_Do you know of this Roulsotha place?'_ asked the blond.

"**Nope, but I'm pretty sure it's not in the ninja world."**

'_So we are going to travel out of the ninja world,'_ mused Naruto happily.

"**Chances are, you're already out of the ninja world,"** commented Kyuubi. "**The fact that you saw about two seconds of darkness proves that it was quite a long teleportation."**

'_You know what kind of teleportation he did, can you teach me?'_ asked Naruto enthusiastically.

"**Like he said, kit, he'll teach you in good time. You aren't ready for it yet, and it requires knowledge about concepts you don't even know exist."** Naruto pouted, but decided to be patient and wait. He wondered briefly what his training would be like before falling asleep.

Naruto woke up the next morning an hour before nine, and lazily stumbled his way into the kitchen, where he once again found the old man at the stove.

"Breakfast is served," he said without turning around. "I hope it is to your liking."

Naruto looked over at the dining table and was once again astonished by the variety and quantity of the dishes. '_Wow, I wish I could have a cook like him forever.'_ The blond sat down and started practically inhaling his food.

"**Now you see why the Ancient keeps this soul,"** said Kyuubi, "t**o be able to enjoy this kind of food everyday."**

"Won't Yashka-sensei be eating too?" asked Naruto.

"Master ate several hours ago," replied the old man.

"Where is he now?"

"Master does not inform me of where he goes," was the formal reply. "If you are wondering when he will be back, then I can certainly tell you that he will return by nine o'clock to keep his appointment with you."

'_Weird,'_ thought Naruto before continuing his breakfast. After which he went to his room and made sure all of his things were ready to go. Having thirty more minutes till nine and having nothing better to do, Naruto flopped down on the couch in the living room and waited.

Fifteen minutes later, "Come Naruto, today your training begins," announced Yashka. He grasped Naruto by the shoulder again and they were instantly teleported to their destination.

"That was quicker than last night," commented Naruto.

"That's because we were only about 20 miles away," said Yashka nonchalantly.

Naruto looked around and saw three wooden gates, each consecutively larger than the previous, in front of him. The supports on either side of each gate were made out of a dark obsidian stone, which reflected no light. A small cottage stood behind him. "Where do the gates lead?" asked Naruto.

"Your training grounds," replied the Ancient as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Here's the thing, ninjutsu-wise you're set. Your Doton and Suiton Supremacies basically cover all the ninjutsu you'll ever need; of course, I'll teach you some Raiton, Fuiton, and Katon. What you're lacking in is genjutsu and, especially, taijutsu. The Kyuubi did not spend much time in human form, so she doesn't know any taijutsu styles."

"**That's true,"** said the fox in shame. "**That's definitely one category I can't teach you anything in."**

"No worries, Naruto, I'll be teaching you several taijutsu styles," reassured the Ancient, "but we'll get to those later. First, you'll need to increase your speed and reaction rate."

"By wearing and training with weights, right?" asked Naruto.

"Wrong!" said Yashka forcefully.

"But don't weights make you move faster?" asked Naruto.

"No, quite the contrary, weights slow you down," mocked Yashka.

"Well, I mean when you take them off, later?" Naruto tried to reason.

"That may be, but there's a problem," explicated Yashka. "It throws off the mind and body. Your body gets used to being in a weighed-down state, so it's going to feel weird without the weights. As for your mind, let's say it takes you half a second to respond to an attack, then if suddenly it takes you a quarter of a second to respond to the same attack you're going to feel off. It might be a better response time, but you don't want to feel _off_ in a battle."

Naruto tilted his head to the side to ponder this. '_That's true, suddenly altering the state of your body in the middle of battle would make things rather awkward.'_

The Ancient decided to provide an example. "It's like switching between fighting on solid ground to fighting on water. If you do that, you need a little time to adjust. However, in this case both you and your opponent are adjusting. With the weights, your opponent is just continuing his or her attacks and is _not _going to wait for you to adjust."

"Then, how do you propose to increase my speed?" asked the genin.

"Naturally," replied Yashka. "I should actually say, out of necessity. You'll simply _need_ to be fast in order to go through the training I have planned."

Naruto nodded, "All right, let's get to it then!"

"Yes, yes, but first hand over the weights Jiraiya gave you," ordered Yashka.

"How did you know about those?" wondered Naruto as he unstrapped the shin guards and the forearm protectors.

"I was spying on you on and Jiraiya," was the calm reply.

"But he's one of the legendary three, how come he didn't notice you?"

"Special stealth technique that simply erases my presence from this world," was the explanation. "I'll teach you those after your speed training, taijutsu training, and Void World training."

"Void World?" asked Naruto.

"That is a few years into the future, don't worry about it now."

"I though I had to be back in Konoha in three years?"

"Blah, blah… I'm not bound by any constraints," he replied. "I'll teach you as long as I want. If Konoha's Kage doesn't like it, she can suck my balls."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at how calm Yashka-sensei was when he said that. '_This guy really doesn't fear Tsunade whatsoever.'_

"_**Naruto, it seems you still have no idea exactly who you are dealing with,**_**"** thought the Kyuubi. "_**Though I wonder what the Ancient's agenda is? He couldn't be doing this as a sign of good faith. Well, I'll just have to watch and see and make sure he does nothing to hurt Naruto-kun."**_

Yashka took Naruto's weights and made then them vanish. "While we're doing this, could I have your forehead protector as well?"

Naruto grasped at the metal on his forehead. "Why?"

"Because if I'm going to have you doing missions, it'll be for me and not for the Leaf," explained the young man.

"Missions?" asked Naruto. "What kind of missions?"

"Don't get so excited, I'm not unleashing you on the world until after most of our training is done." The Ancient grabbed the forehead protector from Naruto's hands and put into his inside pocket.

"Speaking of which, what is this training I'm going to be doing?" asked Naruto.

"Well, if you wouldn't interrupt me with all your silly questions, I would be able to get to it," Yashka sighed.

"Ok, I'll listen."

"Those three gates are the entrances to three obstacle courses," explained the Ancient, "of varying difficulty. The first is a short length course, laden with mostly physical traps and genjutsu traps. The second is a medium length course, which has physical, genjutsu, and ninjutsu traps."

"What about the third?"

"To learn about that one, you'll have to pass trough the first two," smirked the young man. "Now, moving on to testing. It is a three-part test: the first part is to be able to go through it avoiding all the traps; meaning you can't even trigger one. The second part is to then go through it purposely setting off the traps and being able to avoid whatever comes out without getting injured. Lastly, to be able to advance up to the next course, you must be able to pass both first and second part, and afterwards be able to beat an enemy that is of bit higher level than you."

"Wait, for the second part you want me to set off the traps and then dodge the projectiles or whatever?" frowned Naruto. "And not get hurt?"

"Precisely," answered Yashka. "After all the practice sessions you will have had, that should be a piece of cake."

"Meaning the traps don't change from time to time," analyzed Naruto.

"That's right, you should be able to clear the first one within a week or two," informed the Ancient. "The second one's not really hard either. Both are really about building up your speed."

"Why do I get the feeling that the third one is several times harder than the first and second combined?"

Yashka's face split into a maniac grin, "Because it IS several times harder than the first and second combined."

Naruto frowned, '_What have I gotten myself into?'_

"But no need to worry about that at this point in time, you haven't even gone through the first one," Yashka pushed him towards the first gate.

Naruto sighed and walked toward the smallest of the gates. '_Well, here goes,'_ he thought and opened the gate by pulling on one of the triangle-shaped handles, which were pointing away from each other, and walked in.

Inside was a city landscape, devoid of people. Naruto noticed some stands on wheels, and some other large metallic boxes with four wheels and six windows. (A/N: remember there are no cars in Naruto's world.) The buildings were at least ten stories each, though further on Naruto saw buildings that were like 50-stories tall and seemed to almost touch the sky.

The street he was on, Naruto noticed was completely straight and the other streets met it at a 90-degree angle. '_This is way too easy, I'll just run straight through the course at top speed,'_ thought the genin arrogantly. Naruto bent his knees and dashed forward. He didn't make more than two blocks before he ran straight into an invisible force, and passed out from the force of impact.

On the outside, the Ancient slowly pushed the first gate closed. "Should I have told him that it's a maze with invisible walls?" he wondered out loud. "Nah, he'll figure it out." Yashka pushed in a stone in the left support, and six screens appeared on the gate. The Ancient walked over to the middle of the gate and put his palm into the diamond created by the handles. The six screens turned on and showed Naruto, each from a different angle; Yashka closed his eyes and the handles glowed lightly.

Inside of his mind, Yashka could see a three-dimensional picture of Naruto and his surroundings, as if the young man were actually there. '_So he's found the first invisible wall,'_ commented the Ancient. '_Though it looks like he ran into it first,'_ he laughed.

Naruto came to several minutes later, and cursed as soon as he remembered what happened. "Looks like it's not as easy as it looks," muttered Naruto.

"**You should never assume anything, kit,"** said the Kyuubi.

"Yea, yea, I know."

"**Not well enough apparently,"** said the fox in reference to the large bruise on the blonde's face.

Naruto growled lightly as he touched his wound, he then looked straight ahead and saw a straight street. He carefully stretched out his hand until it hit an invisible barrier, and ran his hand along this wall. '_This is one hell of a genjutsu,'_ thought Naruto. "He could have warned me, that son of a bitch."

"**It's a very advanced form of genjutsu,"** said the fox slowly. "**Try to mark it."**

Naruto took out his kunai and stabbed it into the wall. Ripples spread out from the point of contact, but the no mark was made. "What the hell is this?" wondered Naruto.

"**A layer genjutsu, which reforms on top of the real wall, thus making it so that the image is always constant,"** explained the demon. "**This is a memory test, you'll have to memorize which walls are fake."**

"Memorize them, are you certain there is no other way?" the blond asked. "Like maybe breaking through the wall and walking through the genjutsu?"

"**No, breaking the wall is out of the question, you have no idea what is behind this genjutsu. The wall could easily have a chakra covering or be several meters thick,"** she replied. "**Plus, it would defy the point of this exercise."**

Naruto looked around for any distinguishing marks, when it suddenly hit him. He quickly slammed his kunai into the ground, '_If I can't mark the wall, I'll mark the ground right next to it.'_

"**That's a good idea, kit."**

However, there was a small problem with that plan. Naruto noticed that the ground beneath him was made out of some kind of black rock that a kunai couldn't really pierce. "Damn it! Is everything in this place unbreakable?" yelled Naruto. '_Wait just a second, my kunai might not work, but how about this?'_ Naruto pressed his palm to the ground and made the ground beneath him cave in, in the shape of an X. "There we go, marked!"

The blond noticed that he was at an intersection, he walked to one side and stretched out his hand. It came into contact with another invisible wall, Naruto nodded and marked the ground beneath him. The genin explored the opposite way in the same method and found that it was not a wall. Naruto proceeded along the street toward the next intersection, having completely forgotten that this place was filled with traps.

The first presented itself when he stepped on a sewer cover, which promptly exploded and sent the genin flying forward. As soon as Naruto had stopped rolling along the ground, a barrage of shuriken flew right at him. The blond barely had time to think as he quickly leapt away and into the middle of the next intersection. However, as soon as he reached his destination, a kunai flew out of all four corners of the intersection, each of which had an explosive note attached to it.

"Holy crap!" screamed Naruto and jumped up before the kunai could hit him. The explosive notes were expertly set so to explode right as the kunai reached the center, resulting in Naruto being propelled upwards much higher than he had wanted.

Just as gravity was going to pull him down, Naruto felt something brush up against his cheek. He turned wondering what it was and saw a thin, snapped wire falling away. '_Trip wire,'_ thought Naruto and barely managed to flip his body so that a rotating steel beam didn't hit him right in the face; it did however hit the blond shinobi in the back of the legs. "Does this have an end?" he yelled.

Naruto landed in the middle of a cross street and instantly jumped to the right wall. In midair, he watched as a dozen shuriken hit the place he had landed at just a second ago. "Damn, these traps are fast and _very_ well configured. A combination of five traps, one being two-step, and the timing on them is superb."

"**As expected of the Ancient,"** nodded the Kyuubi approvingly. "**This is an excellent exercise for you."**

"Excellent… sure, if I don't die from them," said Naruto sarcastically.

"**It's made such that you have to always be on alert,"** explained the fox. "**Then there's also this issue of the invisible walls."**

"They probably hide the traps," guessed Naruto.

"**Maybe, but I think they serve some higher purpose,"** analyzed the Kyuubi. "**I have a guess as to what that purpose might be, but we'll have to wait and see."**

"What is it?"

"**You'll have to figure this one out on your own,"** she replied. "**Just hope that he's not as sadistic as I think he is."**

Naruto grumbled and continued on through the course, this time taking his time and watching out for any traps. He stepped over several trip wires and walked along the wall for part of the way. '_What is this, trip wire street?'_ wondered Naruto in annoyance.

Naruto came to a corner in the road, real walls on two sides, and only one way to go. He followed this street for some time, not encountering any traps. '_What the hell is going on here?'_ Naruto finally came to a new intersection, this time two of the ways were invisible and once again Naruto only had one way to go. The genin continued on this street for three blocks since the side streets were all invisible walls, until he came to another turn into an alley.

Naruto was about to take a step forward when his gut feeling told him to stop. He tilted his head to the side and saw several wires at eye-level in front of him, in a crisscross design. He tilted his head to the other side and saw more trip wires arranged in the same way. Naruto looked around from several angles and saw that the entire alley was filled with trip wires in a crisscross pattern. "Damn sadist," muttered Naruto.

'_I could do a Doton jutsu and rip through this web, setting off every trap,'_ considered Naruto. '_But Yashka-sensei said that one of the tests is being able to get by all the traps without setting them off.'_ Thus Naruto sat down cross-legged and pondered this little dilemma. "Wait a second," Naruto looked up and saw that the wires only went up to the edge of the roof of each building. "I'll just walk around them, by the roof."

The blond shinobi climbed up to the roof and walked on its edge looking down at the mass of wires down below. Naruto chuckled lightly, but it was cut short when he felt his foot get caught on something. Naruto's face went pale as he saw the three kunai with explosive notes flying at him. He had to think quickly, and was forced to jump over to the other building, though that didn't save him when he realized that he had landed on an explosive note. Naruto had two seconds to jump away before it exploded.

The genin found himself in the middle of the alleyway barely able to turn around without setting off some traps. '_Oh god,'_ thought Naruto in fear, a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.

"**Naruto, do you notice anything strange about some of the wires?"** hinted the fox.

"Strange?" wondered Naruto and tilted his head to better see the wires. That's when he noticed it, the wires that he could see from every angle were clearly anchored to the walls by very small hooks. "They are fake traps, aren't they?" seethed Naruto.

"**Quite so."**

Naruto cursed his teacher before moving to cut all the false traps around him. Now that he saw the trick, Naruto realized that the real traps were mostly located on the bottom and on the top. '_Right where people would go to try and avoid the traps,'_ analyzed Naruto. '_Smart.' _Now that Naruto knew the secret though, he quickly made his way out of the alleyway.

Once out, Naruto looked to his right and saw that that way was a dead end. He looked to the left and saw a sight that looked somewhat familiar; he walked left. When Naruto walked a block, he looked down in wonder, there was an X imprinted into the ground.

It only took Naruto a moment to realize what the hell had happened. "ARGH!" screamed the blue-eyed shinobi. "I'm going to kill him!" Naruto tightened his fist and punched the building next to him.

"**It is what I feared then,"** mumbled Kyuubi.

"What?" snapped Naruto. "You knew?"

"**Well, I did tell you that the invisible walls served a higher purpose."**

"That wasn't much of a clue," seethed Naruto and took several breaths to calm down. "It's a damn maze. The invisible walls are set up so that I will be even more confused. You were right, this is a memory test."

"**That one turn you took, where the path became one-way. If you had paid attention to where you were going territorially you would've noticed that you were going backwards."**

"Yeah," breathed out Naruto. "So now I'll have to mark every single opening, just to make sure I haven't been there before." Naruto started walking along the path he had previously taken, "Well at least that first set of traps will have already been tripped," assumed Naruto.

He saw the same sewer cover and thinking that it had already been spent Naruto stepped on it. The genin was once again thrown forward by the explosion and had to dodge the shuriken. This time, however, Naruto made sure not to jump into the middle of the intersection. '_What the hell is going on here?'_ he wondered. '_I'm sure that I've been here before, but these are the same traps.'_ Naruto thought he would experiment and sent a clone into the middle of the intersection. He watched as the kunai came again and then the steel beam.

"**The traps reset,"** explained the Kyuubi. "**This place is made so that as soon as you're out of the trap's vicinity it reconstructs itself."**

"How is that even possible?" asked Naruto.

"**I have only heard about these kinds of jutsus,"** continued the fox in an awed voice. "**It is called a World Enchantment; it's basically a jutsu placed over a large area. The traps must be linked into it and it can also feel your presence. Hence when a trap has been triggered it registers it, and as soon as your presence has moved a certain distance from the said trap, the World Enchantment jutsu reconstructs the trap."**

Naruto's jaw hung slack, "You mean to tell me that no matter how many times I go through any trap it will remake itself?"

"**Well, you've got to consider the fact that the traps must all be fully functional when you take the exam,"** reasoned the fox.

"That's true, but I thought Yashka-sensei would just go through this place and fix it up right beforehand," said the blond sheepishly. "Well, I can't just stand around here." Naruto walked across the intersection to make sure that the other ways were walls, and discovered that one of them was a real way. '_This is the opposite way of where I would have gone if I got caught in the trap,'_ evaluated Naruto.

"**That's the way it makes sure that you end up in the beginning,"** added the Kyuubi. "**To show a rookie that this is a maze, but not before he is forced to go through some tricky traps."**

'_Sadistic,'_ thought Naruto as he walked in the opposite direction he had last time. Two blocks away Naruto was faced with a fork in the road, '_Well, if I get it wrong I can always come back and go the other way,'_ concluded Naruto. The blond walked to the right, where his gut feeling told him to go. He walked into a long stretch, that smelled like it would be filled with traps, but Naruto could not see any trip wires.

"**Not all traps work by trip wires,"** reminded the fox.

Naruto nodded in agreement and quickened his pace so that the traps wouldn't get him. Naruto noticed that this street had a lot more stands than any other street, and so the shinobi made sure to stay clear of them. However, he quickly found out that that was also a bad choice when a huge paddle rotated out of a building and tried to hit the blond in the back as he walked on the opposite side of street from the stands. Naruto managed to jump up in time and have the paddle pass below him. The blond then made his way to the middle of street so that he would have all directions at his disposal to dodge.

"**No kit, get out of the way!"** yelled Kyuubi.

Naruto instinctively listened to the Kyuubi and jumped out of the way just as a blade came out of the ground. It sliced in a vertical arc and disappeared into the ground once more. '_What the hell was that?'_ yelled Naruto inside his mind.

"**An underground trap,"** said the Kyuubi. "**You would have been sliced in half, if you hadn't moved."**

"Thanks Kyu-chan," said Naruto gratefully.

"**Looks like you are getting into the harder traps." **Naruto nodded and advanced further, now keeping some chakra in his feet at all times. He encountered two more underground traps and one more paddle trap. The next street greeted Naruto with net-type traps, one of which managed to capture Naruto for a second before he quickly cut a hole and fell out of it.

"**Do you notice how each street only contains one type of trap?"**

"Yeah, except that very first series of traps," agreed Naruto. "He's just introducing me to the types of traps I can expect to be implemented in combination."

"**Exactly, a good example would be catching you in a net and then using the underground-cutting trap,"** Naruto shuddered, but knew that such a trap was quite possible.

Naruto made his way through some more blocks with mostly simple traps or repeats of what he had seen before. After a little more of walking he noticed a familiar X mark on the ground. It wasn't the fork in the road that he was debating at before, but an area not far from there just before the underground traps were first introduced. '_All right, at least I'm getting somewhere.'_

Only a few more hours and Naruto was already standing at the edge of a bridge on the other side of which he could see what looked to be the end. The blond was tired, beat up, and his clothes were ruined by all the traps he hadn't been able to avoid. '_I bet this bridge is one whole trap of its own,'_ Naruto cursed a little before starting his run through. Naruto evaded some traps, but most were still well hidden and he ended up setting them off.

"**You're passing under the first support tower, this is the only place where suspension traps could be used,"** warned the Kyuubi. Naruto nodded and jumped onto the side of the support and ran along the wall, then jumped back down but closer to the edge, since traps were usually placed in the middle.

Naruto jumped over an underground blade and suddenly stopped when he saw what was ahead of him. There were dual blades rotating on each edge of the bridge and a saw blade in the middle, which was constantly changing its height. "What the hell am I supposed to do, _fly_?"

"**Time it,"** answered the fox.

"Time it, you say," he sighed heavily. "This will take a while."

The dual blades, at first they seemed to be rotating in perfect opposite accord, but as Naruto continued observing he saw that they were slowly getting out of sync. '_All right, I'll only have one shot at this, I need to figure out the timing of the saw blade now.'_ Naruto switched his attention to the middle blade and soon had a good idea of its timing. Now all he had to do was to put all the timings together and decide when he would make his move.

After adding it all up, Naruto realized that he would have to wait until the next time because the saw blade would be on the rise at the appropriate time to jump through the dual blades. Naruto sat down to wait for the next time and got to thinking. '_What kind of trap is this? I mean how could someone not see this?'_ wondered the blond. As soon as he thought that Naruto started looking around to make sure there were no traps nearby.

"**Throw a shuriken into each of the blades,"** ordered Kyuubi.

"What? why?" asked Naruto.

"**Just do it, kit."**

Naruto shrugged and took out a three shuriken and three them into each of the blades. To his great surprise and anger his shuriken went straight through the saw blade. "It's a genjutsu," said Naruto resentfully. He stood up and in a second jumped over to the other side; he landed on his palms and pushed off the ground and far from the blades. Just as he did that the spot right where he placed his palms exploded. '_Typical, to booby trap the only place I can jump.'_

Naruto was now halfway over the bridge, he noticed that the second half of the bridge was filled with boxes and stands. '_Practically a mine field,'_ thought Naruto. '_And it's under the second support tower.'_ The Leaf shinobi took a deep breath and increased his pace to a light run. Once he felt that he was right at the beginning of all the traps, he increased his speed to full and flew through the last part of the course; surprisingly none of the traps were sprung. '_Hmm…?'_

Naruto slowed down to a walk and advanced towards the fountain in the middle of a grassy lawn. As soon as he reached the fountain, the world in front of him twisted and the wooden gate appeared. Naruto looked back and saw the fountain through a window, '_Weird,'_ he thought and turned back to the doors.

Naruto opened them and found the Ancient sitting right in front of him. "Yashka-sensei, I'm back," he announced.

"I know," was the calm reply. "So how'd you like it?"

"That was hard," said Naruto. "Those traps are really tricky."

"Any questions?" asked Yashka in a tone that hinted there should be at least one.

Naruto thought a moment, "How come the last several traps weren't set off when I straight ran through them?"

"Remember what I said about this training in the beginning?" asked the young man.

"That it is the easiest of the three?"

"No," Yashka closed his eyes. "This training is to increase your speed. Meaning that these traps are motion sensitive."

Naruto frowned, "So you mean if I just ran through the entire course, none of the traps would have gone off? What about the trip wires, those go off if you spring them?"

"Well, I can't expect you to be so stupid as to run through everything," chuckled the Ancient. "You've got to be able to apply your brain and figure out when you can run through the traps and when you have to pay attention and carefully go around the traps; though the situations can overlap."

"Uh huh, I see," said Naruto slowly. "Oh yeah, and how come you didn't tell me that it's a maze with invisible walls?" yelled Naruto.

"I was supposed to?" wondered Yashka. "You figured it out well enough on your own."

"That may be, but you should have still warned me about the invisible walls."

"So that you don't run into them?" smiled the young man.

"Exactly… hey, how'd you know about that?" demanded Naruto.

"Because I was watching," he replied innocently. "It was quite comical." Naruto growled a little. "But seriously, the enemy is not going to warn you about their traps, and intelligence isn't always correct or up to date. You have to be ready for anything," lectured Yashka.

"I understand," said Naruto.

'_It seems like you haven't figured out the little trick yet. Well, not like you can get through the first test without it,'_ thought the Ancient. "Well, the day is still young, I want you to go through the maze at least ten more times."

"Ten?" questioned Naruto.

"Is there a problem?"

"It took me almost three hours to go through it, so ten more times would make 30 hours," said Naruto.

"The first time always takes the longest amount of time," clarified the Ancient. "As you get more and more accustomed to the maze, and start memorizing it, you'll start flying through it, an hour being your max."

"What about food?" asked Naruto. "It's not like I can hunt in that place."

"Oh that, every five times through a dining table covered with food will appear before the fountain."

"I wanted to ask about that, how does that world know those things?" asked Naruto. "What is this World Enchantment?"

"So the Kyuubi has heard of it," mused Yashka. "We'll cover it later, closer to or after dimensions. It's impractical to implement as a real-time high-level ninjutsu. It works much better for trap situations."

"Wha…?" said Naruto as all that information passed over his head.

"Never mind, it's concepts that I have yet to explain the basics of," said the Ancient. "You're at least two years away from learning this. It doesn't matter, just go do your training!" ordered the Ancient.

Naruto shook his head to clear out all that confusing information, and walked over to the gate again. '_Here we go again,'_ he thought as he opened the gate and stepped through. Naruto was once again thrust into the cityscape; he looked around and was satisfied to be in the same place as before. Naruto ran over to the very first invisible wall, or what was supposed to be an invisible wall since there wasn't an X on the ground below. The blond reached out and touched the invisible wall, making sure that it was indeed there.

'_Well that's weird,'_ he thought. '_Oh… the world must reset every time I leave and enter,'_ concluded Naruto with annoyance. He wondered briefly if the world would reset every time he finished the course and concluded that that was probably true. '_A true test of memory, not even giving me a chance to cheat.'_

Naruto had a very vague idea of how the maze went, and would need to go through it several times before he finally had more or less a feeling of where to turn. Though it wasn't all bad because in the process of memorizing the map, so to speak, Naruto was also starting to memorize the traps. A sort of, turn here avoid a shuriken trap then make sure not to run by the right-hand side. It was primitive, but effective.

Though, even after ten tries through the maze, Naruto was still unable to make it so that none of the traps triggered. He knew there was something he was missing, some little detail that kept slipping his mind.

The blond was now sitting outside the gate, racking his brain trying to figure it out. It was dark now; the sun had set several hours ago while Naruto was still in the training course. It was a cool night, but not so cold that a jacket would be needed. A light breeze picked up and Naruto's nose caught the smell of freshly prepared food, and his stomach grumbled.

The blond got up and headed to the cottage, from which a faint light shined through the single cross-framed window. Inside, the cottage had a nice lively feel to it. The bedrooms were on the left, the living room on the right, and the kitchen was diagonally to the right. Even though from the outside it looked like it was candle light, the house was wired with electricity, the lights were just dim.

Naruto walked in to the kitchen and was shocked to find the Ancient making their food. "Didn't expect me to be culinary literate, did you?" asked the young man, Naruto shook his head. "Well, everyone has at least one hidden ability."

"What are we having?" asked Naruto and the pair started up some small talk; neither mentioning Naruto's training. Naruto went to bed that night tired, full, and happier than he had been in a long while. '_Yashka-sensei sure knows how to make you feel at home,'_ thought Naruto before dozing off.

The Ancient watched Naruto as he went to sleep and smiled softly, '_Good kid.'_ He then walked out into the hallway and stood right in the middle, below the chandelier. The young man took his index finger and drew an archaic symbol in the air in front of him and mumbled a few words. Soon a black, spiraling space opened up beneath his feet and Yashka slowly sank into it. Once his head disappeared the opening closed and it was as if nothing happened.

For the next week, Naruto would wake up early in the morning, eat a breakfast that had somehow been prepared for him, and jump into his training. He would go through the course 15 or 20 times, or until the Ancient called him out; it turned out that Yashka could project his voice into the obstacle course. The Ancient would then have Naruto do some highly demanding physical labor to build the blonde's muscles. Naruto would then have dinner with Yashka and go to bed exhausted.

Thankfully, the Ancient had given Naruto some special clothes that mended themselves at the end of the day, so that Naruto didn't ruin his real clothes. This was a completely black jumpsuit, with some red writing on the front, back, and each pant leg; Naruto had no idea what the writing meant. The blond asked the Ancient once what was written on his jumpsuit, but all the young man said was that those were the runes that repaired it at the end of the day.

Only once during that time did the Ancient say that there indeed was a little trick to the obstacle course. Naruto still hadn't been able to figure it out and the Kyuubi was refusing to tell him, saying that it was his responsibility to find the answer. Naruto had first thought that it might have something to do with the invisible walls, like maybe them not having any traps or definitely having traps but of only one kind; it turned out to be false. Naruto had then considered the placement and order of the traps, maybe there was some sort of way they were organized and then he would be able to know which one was coming up next and act accordingly; that idea was annulled when he remembered he could simply memorize the order of the traps.

From there the list gets blurry with ideas that only lasted for several moments before the blond found something to counter them with. It was nerve wracking to know that there was an answer, but that you've seemingly considered everything and still not found it. It occurred to him that this trick wasn't related to the surroundings, but to the traps themselves. Naruto analyzed the traps in his mind, while he worked out, but still was unable to come up with anything concrete.

Finally Naruto just started sending clones in to trigger the traps to watch what would happen, hoping to figure it out that way. That was when he noticed something strange about the paddles that were coming out of the walls, they came out at an angle; it was as if someone was rowing. '_Why the hell would they come out at an angle?'_ pondered Naruto. He quickly realized that the dual blades on the bridge were on an angle. '_The blades I can understand, it's so that I don't crawl under them, but why the paddles?'_

Naruto suddenly lifted his head as an idea started forming in his head. '_All the traps are set, in position and in motion,'_ he analyzed. '_If a trap is triggered, it executes in the same way every single time. So if a shuriken trap is designed to shoot down, it cannot be re-angled to shoot up.'_

Naruto laughed, it had been in front of his face the entire time. Were the traps set off when Naruto passed them? Yes and no, they were set off when Naruto passed in the area where the trap was aimed to hit. Meaning that if he were to run above a shuriken trap that was aimed down at the street, it wouldn't activate because Naruto had not passed in its field of function. Since Naruto had memorized all the traps by now this would be a piece of cake.

Naruto implemented this theory the next time he went through the course, and found that it was indeed true. He managed to successfully pass through the entire course without setting off a single trap; he was now half finished with the first course. The problem now lay in being able to avoid all the traps after triggering them. Some of the traps were simply too fast for Naruto, and at the end of the course they were set up to in a long combination.

The Ancient had praised him on figuring out the trick and congratulated him on, technically, passing the first test. "You'll, of course, have to pass both tests consecutively," he explained. "But you've got the first one down, so now all you need to do is increase your speed and you'll be able to get through the second one too."

'_Easy for him to say,'_ thought Naruto. Yashka showed him once how easy he could go through the traps; it seemed to Naruto that Yashka wasn't even completely concentrated on the task at hand.

"It's rather easy, you feel the projectiles coming and jump away," explained the Ancient. "And since you've memorized the course, you know where you can land and where it is simply better to jump away. Also the weight training and labor I have you do daily is strengthening your muscles. Even though strength isn't required for speed, it does help. The time between knowing what's going to happen and countering it, either blocking or dodging, is your reaction rate. Yours is pretty bad right now, you correctly analyzed that I wasn't even thinking about the traps when I did the demonstration, I don't need to, these traps are really slow."

"Slow?" wondered Naruto in amazement.

"Yes, when you get up to my speed, you'll see it that way also."

Naruto listened to Yashka's advice and worked harder to increase his speed. It took him several days, but he managed to do it by using his heightened senses to improve his reaction rate. Within four days Naruto was able to dodge all of the traps without getting nicked, and was set to take the exam the next day.

Naruto and Yashka were now sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner. "Yashka-sensei, I was wondering what is that dual bladed trap for? There's no possible way someone wouldn't notice it."

"It is meant to throw you off the first time you go through the course," explained the Ancient, "and to show you that not all traps are hidden."

"But why wouldn't someone hide a trap?" asked Naruto. "Is it to throw the enemy off and have them stop in front of it and then get them with some other jutsu?"

"Yes, if I remember correctly you sat for five minutes in front of those blades thinking, calculating their timing. Imagine what the enemy could have done to you in those five minutes. They could have trapped you in a genjutsu, used some sort of projectile ninjutsu from behind to push you into the blades, or they could have done nothing and simply used those five minutes to erase their presence and disappear from the area."

"But in the real world, you would have to stop and examine the trap before concluding whether or not it's dangerous," said Naruto. "So you set yourself up for this no matter what."

"No, because all these contemplations are already finished by the time you get to the trap," replied Yashka. "Or at least that's how it has to be."

"Sounds difficult."

"Nah, the third obstacle course is difficult. The first two are merely introductions, the third one is where all the training happens," foreshadowed the young man. "This is just to give you the basics." Naruto shuddered thinking of exactly how hard the third gate would be. "Like I've said before, don't worry about it yet, you still have to go through the ninjutsu trap training in the second course."

Next morning, both teacher and student stood outside the gate. "Now Naruto, come back out here when you've gone through it the first time," ordered the Ancient. "I'll tell you whether you pass or not, and then we'll move on to the second test… or not."

Naruto nodded and stepped through the gate. The blond was now completely familiar with the obstacle course and he quickly and expertly made his way through it. The first series of traps are actually very easy, since they were all aimed into the middle of the street, so Naruto simply stayed to the side. The underground traps were only set off if the person was set to walk into them, and the paddle traps you had to be in range of for them to come out. All in all, Naruto made it through the course in about twenty minutes.

He came out and was greeted by the sight of Yashka holding up a soul charm. "You passed, Naruto-kun," said the Ancient. "Now time for your second and third test."

"And third?" wondered Naruto.

"Why yes, you'll have to go through the course setting off the traps and not getting hit and if you pass that this person will be waiting for you at the end and you will have to fight him."

"Is that also a soul charm?" asked Naruto since the object the Ancient was holding had spikes all around the edge.

"Yes, this kind denotes fighting souls. Don't worry, he's not a really high level fighter, though his style will be something you are not accustomed to facing," explained Yashka. "Knock him unconscious or kill him, your choice." The Ancient walked over to the left support and placed the soul charm into a slightly hollowed out space. The charm stuck and glowed a dull red. "There it is set. If you do not see your opponent at the end, it means that you have failed the second test."

Naruto nodded and stepped inside the gate once more. He sighed and ran through the course setting off all the traps and effectively dodging the effects, until he was over the bridge and face to face with his opponent. (A/N: author is tired.) The man was dressed in a kimono, and had two samurai sword strapped to his side. '_This is going to be a sword fight,'_ thought Naruto. '_Except that I don't have any weapons except kunai and shuriken.'_

Naruto made a clone and sent it at his opponent to test him. The samurai destroyed the clone without even drawing his sword. Naruto knew that this man's taijutsu was much higher than his and the close combat was out. The blond then crouched down and put his palms to the ground, making the ground beneath his enemy explode.

The man didn't expect it and was thrown across the field, but landed on his feet and charged at Naruto with his sword drawn. The man was fast, Naruto leapt away trying to find a time to do another Doton, but not being able to. The blond shinobi was forced to use Kawarimi when the samurai was going to chop him in half. This gave Naruto a little bit of time and he managed to hide underground while several of his clones stayed on the surface.

His speed was much greater than Naruto's. To the blond that meant he needed a way to slow him down. '_I'll turn the entire area into a quicksand pit, and then I'll be able to kill him while he is bound,'_ planned Naruto, and did exactly that. He surfaced to, indeed, find his opponent stuck in the quicksand. Naruto calmly walked up behind the man and went to slit his throat, when the man did a simple sword move and slashed Naruto across the stomach.

The blond ninja double over in pain, his eyes looking up the man in hatred. Naruto activated his Doton Supremacy and made a dozen spikes come up from the ground around the samurai, at such an angle that they would all pierce the man. Naruto watched as the man was practically ripped apart by the spikes and then cancelled the jutsu dropping the bloody, mangled corpse onto the ground.

The world around Naruto twisted and he was back outside the gate. He held his right hand over the wound that he had received, while he watched the Ancient simply pull out the soul charm. "I passed, right?" asked the blond.

"Yes, you did," confirmed Yashka, "but not as well as I thought you would."

"I got careless," said Naruto shamefully.

"Careless indeed, if that had been a shinobi he would have come free of your jutsu and killed you in the instant that you were down."

"I know," said Naruto slowly. "It was my mistake and it will never happen again."

"I hope not, this opponent was actually weaker than you, overall," explained the Ancient. "He was a samurai during his life, he knows nothing about jutsus or chakra manipulation."

"Then, why did you pick him?" wondered Naruto.

"To give you a feel of what it's like to fight sword specialists," said Yashka. "But mostly because I have had his soul for far longer than I should have. I thought this would be a fitting last task."

The Ancient kneeled and drew five archaic symbols into the ground, in the shape of a plus. He then put the charm onto those symbols and channeled chakra into the system. The symbols lit up in a brilliant blue and in a few seconds the charm faded and out of the symbols a white transparent figure rose. The figure was in the shape of the man that Naruto had just fought, the man bowed to the Ancient and disappeared.

"There, his soul is free now," said Yashka. The weird symbols disappearing as he stood up and walked away toward the cottage. '_I wonder if his lover is still waiting for him,_' he mused. His attention quickly switched back to Naruto, "You're now officially done with the first obstacle course and will move on the next one!" he announced.

* * *

The whole souls-in-charms thing is an old idea I had of having quick servents that you could carry around with you anywhere you went. Originally they were just undead, but I really needed some sort of background story for how they came to be sealed into charms and that's what I came up with. This is the revised version, mind you, in the first one I ended up having Yashka talking about genetic engineering... and that was not a topic I wanted in this story, so I had to change it.

I hadn't initially planned on the first course being this long. I thought I would be able to fit in the first and second into this chapter, but after spending 7 pages to just have Naruto go through it once I realized that was not to be the case. It's all right, since I need to slow down anyway. I don't want to blow through his training like I did in ANC.  
Naruto's reasoning for what the trick could be, was actually how my mind went through it trying to create a trick. I finally settled on that one because it seemed obscure enough that you wouldn't catch it, even after 100 times through the course.  
A question some of you might have: what is Roulsotha? It's a name I made up... there's no background story or any significance to go with it... at least I haven't had the need to make one up yet.  
That chapter was mentally exhausting... Don't expect that much detail for the second course. I'm hoping to combine the second and third into one chapter, and the third is going to be a bitch to make up on its own. It is the real training, the first two are nothing compared to it... like walking on water is to making the Rasengan.

Next chapter: 2nd and 3rd courses.


	11. Speedy Sufferings

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Thank you to all my reviewers!

"blah" speech  
"_blah_" thoughts  
"**blah**" Kyuubi's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Kyuubi's thoughts

Fic Slayr - The motive won't be revealed until the very end, and since I haven't really worked out the thrid arc of the story, it's hard to say.

Peter Kim - Maybe actually.

Kaaera - The way I left the chapter, that is a possible trick, but I actually forgot to mention the glass ceiling that was over most of the course... maybe I'll make a reference to it in this chapter. And, you nailed it, but don't tell anyone...

mackan56 - I actually like BW more.

Binnybobarino - You're wrong. Sorry to be so blunt, but I played with that idea for a while before deciding against it. "Punish the guilty and save innocent," that makes me laugh. You don't know enough about the Ancient to make such a claim.

Your-Bones-Akin- You're right, the Ancient does have an ulterior motive, what it is will only be revealed at the end (though I might drop subtle vague hints along the way).

blue 1/2 - does it have anything to do with the akatsuki? I won't answer for or against that notion.

Sorry for the extremely long time that it took me to update. College work just kind took precedence of my time.

I noticed that in my absence made some neat review reply system, so that authors don't have an excuse for replying to their reviews in the chapter... neat neat... well, whether or not I make use of the system is to be seen. So, after this chapter the questions will all the answered in Q&A format... -shrug-

I kinda lied at the end of last chapter... well not really, I did actually think that I would be able to fit both courses into one chapter. But it was not to be, and so present you with only the second course.

**As of 9/23/08**: Added a scene between the Ancient and Zeph (Uchiha history).

* * *

Chapter 11 – Speedy Sufferings

Yashka and Naruto walked over to the second gate and entrance to the second obstacle course. Naruto wondered if the different gate size actually mattered, or if it was just a means of distinguishing.

The Ancient pressed his right palm to the gate and leaned on the right gate. "This one I actually have to tell you about, or else you'll get stuck there for a day not really knowing what to do," mild disappointment laced Yashka's voice as he said this.

Naruto sighed in relief, '_Sadistic bastard,'_ he thought.

"For the basics: it is a medium length course, in which you will face ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu traps. The objective is the same as before: to get to the end."

"But there is a catch," stated Naruto.

"Yes, it's not really _the end_, per say_._"

Naruto scrunched his brows together, "What do you mean, it's not really the end?" questioned the blonde.

"I stated that in too confusing of a way – I'll admit – the end isn't how you perceive it. The setting this time is a castle, somewhere in the midst of which is a statue, of a baboon," the Ancient snickered lightly. "You have to get to that statue."

"And it could be anywhere inside the castle?"

"Well, you're pretty much guaranteed that it's not within the first half of the course," pointed out Yashka.

Naruto nodded, that much was obvious; he would be expected to go through at least half of the course. Though it still bothered him that if the statue's position doesn't change from the first time, then during the second time, and any after, the course would be significantly easier.

Naruto voiced his conclusion to the Ancient who smirked in response. "That's good. Very good observation, and without even having to step foot inside the course," praised Yashka. "Well, let's just say that I've left you some surprises," the young man winked.

Naruto groaned, just guessing at how hard this would turn out to be. "No invisible walls or ceilings this time, right?"

"No, no, nothing of the sort," sympathized Yashka.

"Good, I don't need to hit my head at full speed on a barrier I don't even know is there."

"Well, they were just there for complexity because without those walls the first course would have been too easy," explained the young man. "Don't worry, everything in the second course is quite visible, except the traps of course," he smiled. "C'mon, give this one a whirl and then the rest of the day we'll spend doing something else."

"Like learning jutsus?" wondered Naruto.

"Not quite," curtly replied Yashka. "There are a lot of other things you don't know, and jutsus are best used in combination with other skills." Naruto grumbled a little, but walked over to the second gate wanting to get his first run through it over with and done, and get on to whatever the Ancient was going to teach him next.

Naruto walked in and was thrust into the middle of a jungle. '_What the hell?_' questioned the blonde. '_I thought he said it was going to be a castle._' Instead the castle scenario that Naruto had been expecting, the blonde was faced with an impenetrable jungle. Tall trees with a wide girth and large spread-out branches surrounded him on both sides and barely let any sunlight through to the ground; yet it was not dark. Leaves, twigs, and small stones were scattered on the ground beneath Naruto's feet. '_Convenient for hiding traps,'_ thought Naruto bitterly. He looked around, but found that he could not discern anything beyond about 20 yards around himself, as everything blended together to look a giant wall of trees.

Naruto pushed chakra to the soles of his feet and started walking forward, ready to jump away at the slightest hint of a trap. He hadn't walked more than two steps when he heard the rustling of leaves to his right and immediately jumped forward and to the left to avoid the incoming projectiles, or snare, or perhaps a fireball. However, nothing of the sort happened and the forest was still as Naruto sat and watched from his horizontal position on a tree's trunk. Then he heard it again and turned his head to look before jumping. Naruto couldn't help but laugh at himself; it was just wind blowing through the branches and rustling the leaves.

Paranoia is a powerful thing. There had been no wind or any kind of weather effects in the first course, so if Naruto had heard something it would undoubtedly have been a trap, but such was not the case here. The blonde looked around, seeing the thin rays of light move as the branches and leaves quivered. A faint breeze rolled through the canopy as Naruto extended his hand into the sunshine and actually felt warmth. There were no animals, at least none that he had encountered yet, but the weather effects were real; an added element of difficulty, no doubt. This, however, did not have Naruto as irked as usual; in fact he was sort of glad that the training field was more realistic. After all, where in the Shinobi World would Naruto encounter the kind of terrain, if it can be called such, which was present in the first course?

Naruto sighed, and thought about what the Ancient had told him in regards to the statue and the castle. He realized that the young man could have lied about it all just to throw him off, but somehow could not force himself to accept that. He cursed lightly, realizing that the first thing he needed to do was to get a feel for how big this place was. Following his first impulse, Naruto climbed to the top of the highest tree to have a look around. He jumped onto the tree trunk, such that he was standing perpendicular to it and ran up the trunk all the way to the top.

The view from the very top was spectacular, the tight bunching of trees spread out like a blanket of green and brown over a mile in every direction. Naruto caught a sight of several large, dark colored birds flying in the sky; though he couldn't be sure on the color since they were flying right in front of the sun. The young shinobi squinted and looked down and farther into the distance. A very large castle rose up out of the majesty of the jungle. It looked to be made completely out of gold, considering how it reflected the afternoon sun. The design of the palace was that of a rectangle, and Naruto was looking at it head on with only its shorter side visible to the blonde, so he did actually know that the palace was about half a mile in length. On the very top of the castle something seemed to be moving, but being so far away Naruto couldn't tell for sure.

"Whoa," Naruto immediately realized that the Ancient had given him a huge clue as to where the statue was. "So that's what he was talking about. Though it still doesn't make sense that the said the course would take place in the castle if the castle is only where the statue rests."

"**The majority of the course must be within the castle then," **reasoned the Kyuubi.

"Within the castle, eh?" mused Naruto wondering if that part of the course would be anything like what the first course was like.

"**I suggest you get a move on,"** said the Kyuubi. "**You have about a mile of jungle to cover before you even reach the castle."** Naruto nodded and started to climb back down.

Upon reaching the forest floor, Naruto moved forward through the jungle along a makeshift path since he couldn't go left or right because of how the foliage. Abruptly the makeshift path ended and Naruto had an infinite number of directions to go in. The blonde didn't let this faze him as the jogged onwards.

Unexpectedly, Naruto felt the earth beneath him shift and he had a split second to jump away before it exploded right under him. '_What the hell was that?'_ thought Naruto in alarm. '_I couldn't feel it beforehand nor could I force it to stop, what the hell is going on here? And why do I get the feeling that Yashka left out a few key points in his explanation.'_ Naruto later found out that the Ancient had tweaked the last two obstacle courses such that the demon-carrier would not be able to use his Supremacies.

Naruto tried to run once again, but it seemed every other place he put his foot down, a trap would activate. Thus, the blonde was forced to jump from tree to tree. This, of course, held its own difficulties. Within the trees were hidden needle launchers, which were triggered by movement and seemed to almost predict where Naruto would jump to and fire to that location, leaving Naruto with several cuts and scratches; to which the blonde paid little attention. '_My healing factor will take care of little things like these,'_ he thought. Little did Naruto know but the needles were coated with certain chemicals, nothing life-threatening, more like mind-altering; something Naruto's healing factor wouldn't catch as harmful until too late.

Within several minutes of being hit by the needles Naruto did start to feel light-headed. Soon after the colors of the forest started changing, and Naruto had to stop and do a double take on the fact that leaves were now blue. '_What the hell is going on here? Genjutsu?'_ wondered Naruto. The young shinobi made a simple seal and said, "Kai," but the colors did not go back to normal. '_What is going on here? Kyuubi?'_

"**You got careless, that's what happened,"** she growled lightly. "**I only managed to get half of it, but you'll just have to survive through the effects I couldn't prevent in time."**

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto confused. A soft wind rippled through the forest and swung a lonely vine in front of Naruto, who immediately jumped away in fear. However, having only a mild sense of where he was going, Naruto ended up sprawled out on his back on the ground. "Where the hell did that giant snake come from!" yelled Naruto. "And how come I hadn't felt its presence until it was upon me?" before the Kyuubi could answer a rumble was heard beneath Naruto and he frantically rolled to the side knowing what was coming. He could not get away fast enough and was blown into the deep shrubbery by the force of the explosion.

"**That's not really a giant snake,"** calmed the Kyuubi. "**Those needles were coated in a drug; a hallucinogenic. My demonic chakra is not conditioned against these kinds of things and so you got hit with half of it before I forcefully stepped in."**

"You mean my healing factor failed?" inquired Naruto in shock.

"**In a way, yes,"** she explained. "**This drug is not life-threatening, that is why your healing factor didn't catch it."**

'_I see,'_ thought Naruto gravely as he realized that he couldn't afford to get hit by any more of those needles. That made things a lot more difficult for Naruto, who had wanted to simply explore the second course. '_This one is definitely a class up in that sense, but the traps themselves aren't that much faster,'_ analyzed Naruto before realizing that he had barely entered the second course. The blonde, by now, had managed to crawl out of the shrubbery and jump up to a tree branch, which he sat with his eyes closed for several minutes waiting for the drug to wear off. This didn't take a long time with Kyuubi directing her demonic chakra to the necessary parts of Naruto's brain.

As soon as he was ready, Naruto made his way further into the course mostly encountering only the old kinds of traps with shuriken, needles, or the occasional Doton ninjutsu trap. All this made him relax and worry at the same time. He knew this was just the beginning, but how long would it last? Naruto knew that he had traveled at least three quarters of a mile, meaning the castle was just up ahead. Was the mile, or so, of jungle really just a recap or was it only made to seem that way? Maybe the Ancient wanted him to be more relaxed so that he would fall into traps easier; that was always a possibility.

Naruto continued on this train of thought until his feet brought him to the edge of a clearing, the floor of which was entirely covered in vines. '_This just smells like a catastrophe waiting to happen,'_ Naruto's ponderings came to an abrupt end as he looked around before cautiously stepping out onto the vines.

For the first several steps nothing happened and the blonde dropped his guard minutely. About halfway through the clearing, he felt a mild stirring below his feet, but as he tried to jump away a vine quickly rose up and grabbed his foot pulling him back down. "SHIT!" Naruto tried to break away from the vines, but they just kept tightening their hold on him and pulling him down into the ground. '_Damn it! Without my control of Doton I won't be able to do anything,'_ thought the blonde frantically, as his wrists were drawn apart from each other and he was pulled farther and farther down. '_Kyuu! What the hell do I do?'_ the blonde yelled in his mind. '_I'm going to die!'_

"**Don't panic,"** she said calmly.

'_Don't panic! How the hell am I supposed to not panic?'_

Before the fox had a chance to answer, Naruto saw a flash and the next thing he knew, he was back in the beginning of the training course. "**I told you not to panic."** Naruto scowled a little.

"So, got caught in a trap already?" asked a voice behind Naruto. The blonde turned around to find the Ancient sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed. "I thought it'd take you at least 30 minutes."

"How come I can't use my Doton Supremacy?" asked Naruto.

"I disabled it," was the curt reply. "You need to learn not to depend on it."

"I'm not dependant on it," argued Naruto. "It's simply a nice ability that simplifies a lot of things."

"And if I were to send you to Makai and attack you with a Doton jutsu, would you really be able to defend against me?" asked Yashka in a slightly amused tone.

"What does Makai have to do with this?" wondered Naruto. "All of my battles will take place on earth."

The Ancient sighed and opened his eyes, "I just want you to become versatile, and not think that you are god with your Supremacies."

"But when it comes to humans, I am practically god, so what does it matter?" asked Naruto defiantly.

"Wrong!" Yashka raised his voice. "Konoha's Sannin could kick your ass, the Akatsuki could kick your ass, and anyone else on an S-class level can kick your ass. Hence, you are not god." Naruto growled, but before he had a chance to make a retort the Ancient added in a cold, threatening tone, "And I could kill you using only my left leg. So shut up, little kid, and learn respect for your betters or they _will_ kill you and not think twice about it."

That, in combination with the Kyuubi warning him that he was in way over his head, made Naruto release the killer intent that he had gathered and hang his head in defeat. "My apologies," he muttered.

Yashka sighed, '_Rebellious teenagers, they are all the same: I want to kick the crap out of every one of them.' _Yashka motioned for Naruto to follow him out of the training course and then pointed at the spot in front of him telling Naruto to sit across from him. "Today I'll be teaching you about meditation."

"Meditation?" wondered Naruto. "But I already know that."

"You know the basics," explained the young man. "I'm going to teach you advanced meditation. The first step is the same as what you usually do; however once you have reached the first level you must then _lightly_ focus on something."

"Wait, aren't you supposed to keep your mind completely blank?" asked Naruto.

"Yes and no," sighed Yashka. "To enter the trance world, as I like to call it, you do need a completely blank mind, but to further your journey in that world you need a focus."

"What kind of focus?"

"This is where it gets tricky, you focus on whatever you want to improve," explicated the Ancient. "If you want to, say, improve your hearing you would focus on your ears and dive into them, in a way… It's hard to explain, it's more a feeling than anything else. The easiest to start on is your heartbeat, just focus on how your heart is beating and then visualize your heartbeat in the same way that it would appear on a heart monitor."

"What will this do for me?"

"Calm you down, make you a generally more collected person," said the Ancient. "You don't really need it, but it's just the best introduction. In reality I can't tell you how to meditate past the first level, it completely depends on your body and mind, and how they work together."

"So I will have to figure it out by myself?"

"I can give you pointers, but yes you will have to figure it out by yourself," replied the young man. "You're lucky actually, the Kyuubi can make suggestions in your mind while you are meditating," he thought for a moment. "Actually, it might be better if the two of you meditate at the same time and then synchronize, as if into one being."

"**That's an interesting idea,"** said Kyuubi enthusiastically. "**We need to try it."**

"However, be careful not to disrupt each other," warned Yashka. "The trance world is based on feelings, not words. Speaking to each other in the trance world would likely result in a break of meditation."

Naruto nodded and put on a thoughtful look as he prepared to meditate. It didn't take him long to achieve the first stage and then focus on his heart rate and achieve, what he thought at least was the second stage. Naruto tried to explore the place he ended up, but was quickly kicked out to the first level.

"You can't forcefully explore," calmly lectured Yashka without opening his eyes. "Everything is done through feelings and calm feelings at that."

Naruto once again concentrated on his heartbeat and made it into the second stage, this time feeling around much more calmly. He thought he felt something, but it slipped out of his hands – so to speak – and he once again made too hasty of a grab at it and was tossed back into the first stage. This continued many more times until Naruto could calm himself enough to actually hold it.

On the outside, Yashka watched his student with a satisfied smile on his face. '_You're picking it up quickly, Naruto. That's good. You'll need the extremely developed senses in the last course,'_ he paused in his thoughts to consider the rough training plan he had laid for Naruto. '_Hmm… maybe I should move up the taijutsu training… since I don't have you for _that _many years. As arrogant as I was with Jiraiya, I do have to return Naruto in three years, Ningenkai time, if I don't…'_ The Ancient looked down at his student as he felt Naruto's human chakra and the Kyuubi's demonic chakra start flowing at the same rate. '_This synchronization will definitely help in the future… especially in a way neither of you realizes is possible,'_ he smirked slyly.

Yashka submerged himself into his own high-level meditation, which involved a lot more than just improving some senses, and thus left Naruto to his own doings for the rest of the day. When he finally came out, he saw Naruto a little ways away doing sit-ups with a boulder he had found nearby. Yashka got up and walked over to the shinobi, "Hey, how are you doing?" he asked.

"Good, I'm on the fifth hundred," said Naruto and went back to his exercises.

"You do know…" Yashka trailed off when he realized that Naruto in fact didn't know. "Well, you don't know yet, but the back room of that house," the young man motioned with his head, "is a weight training room."

Naruto stopped what he was doing and looked at the house in amazement, "Bullshit! There's no way you could fit any kind of decent equipment into that shack."

Yashka laughed, "C'mon, I'll prove you wrong." Naruto got up and followed the Ancient into the house and then to a far door, that the blonde had always assumed led to the backyard. Yashka opened it and stepped inside, Naruto followed closely behind and felt his jaw drop a moment later. The room was huge, bigger than the cottage by several times, and was filled with every single kind of machine he had seen in Konoha's gym and more.

"H-H-How?" was the only thing Naruto could say.

"You're wondering how this all fits in the cottage," said Yashka. "Well the truth is, it doesn't." Noticing the bewildered look on Naruto's face, the Ancient knew he would have to elaborate, no matter how much he didn't want to. "I don't want to tell you too much this early in the training, especially since you won't be learning this stuff until, at least, two years from now. But basically, this is another dimension and that door there is the gateway, a permanent gateway mind you. This room is actually accessible from any of my places of residence. Why do I do this you ask? Well it's simple, why keep rebuilding gyms when you can have a universal one? No reason to, so I simply have a door that is linked to this place in all of my houses."

Most of that explanation went over Naruto's head; the blonde was mostly focused on all the work he could accomplish now. "Thank you very much," he said in dreamy voice.

The Ancient laughed, "No problem, you're welcome, enjoy," with that he left Naruto to his training. Yashka positively noted just how worn out Naruto was that evening. The blonde would have gone to bed without eating if Yashka hadn't intercepted him and dragged the boy to the dining table. After which he had to again drag him to bed, but this way he knew the boy would be able to get up tomorrow and train more.

The next day, Naruto woke up a little later than usual and got up to find his breakfast sitting on the table with a little note from the Ancient. Yashka simply apologized for having to leave early and advised that Naruto meditate before going in to the training course. Naruto nodded in agreement as he finished reading the note, '_Calm myself, maybe raise my senses a little and then go through that course like a hot knife through butter,'_ he laughed.

"**Yeah, you wish kiddo,"** the fox laughed with him.

After a quick half hour meditating session, Naruto spent the rest of the day in the second training course. Yashka had come back just in time to activate the gate and watch his student barely avoid being turned into a porcupine. Naruto, overall, was fairing much better than he had been the day before. Though, if you consider that he hadn't made it to the toughest part of the course, that wasn't saying much. The Ancient continued watching as Naruto expertly avoided a Katon jutsu and then used a vine to swing over a Doton-trap-infested clearing, but as soon as he was far enough over and had enough velocity, Naruto let go of the vine seconds before high-voltage electricity went through it. '_He's learning to use his surroundings, but at the same time be aware that something useful at one moment can become deadly in the next.'_

Yashka soon discontinued watching Naruto, knowing that the blonde would soon be out of there and would talk about his experiences over dinner. Yashka chuckled as he remember setting up these three courses, '_The second course, was the highest my previous student could get though, then again that was the last one back then,'_ thought the Ancient and his smile dropped. '_But he was an idiot, and I an even bigger moron for actually seeing something…Now the third course was built to entertain and challenge me. If Naruto can get through it, even with getting smudged once or twice by a trap, he'll definitely be worth training.'_

Naruto came in two hours later than the Ancient had expected him back in a very angry mood. "It's impossible!" yelled Naruto as he walked into the cabin, slamming the door behind him. The boy's clothing was torn, cut, and dried blood could be seen at the edges. His normally blonde hair was dirty with mud, some of which had dripped down onto his face, making it dark brown and slightly red. Naruto was very irked at having to spend the four hours trying to get through that damned place. "It's impossible! You hear me?"

"Anything is possible," the Ancient tried to counter, but was cut off.

"No! That military base is IMPOSSIBLE to get through!" roared Naruto. "Practically every single step is a trap. There's some weird circular shit in the ground that I'm quite sure would do something horrible if I were to step on them. Then the fire, wind, and lightning jutsus that are placed perfectly that there is no way to dodge, except into another trap that is as dangerous or worse! So tell how the hell am I supposed to get through that?"

"Military base..." Yashka mouthed in deep thought, his mind running through the entire course trying to figure out what it was that Naruto was talking about. '_What military base is the kid talking about?'_ He thought for a few more moments. '_Oh that military base... _

_well, hah, I should have known he would end up there,'_ the young man mentally laughed.

"Don't know anything about that..."

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about!" accused the angered Naruto.

"I can't say anything," solemnly replied the Ancient. "It's," he paused, "something you have to figure out on your own." He observed as his student panted heavily not just from anger, but also from the near torture he had been subjected to. '_You'll understand one day that some of the safest routes are the ones that look the most dangerous.'_

Naruto growled, "There is no fucking way I can get through that base unless I somehow grow wings and fly," said Naruto. "And I _have_ thought about how I might just catapult myself over it, but that idea didn't turn out too well," he added the last part sheepishly.

"I would have thought the Kyuubi would discourage you from such idiotic behavior?" asked Yashka barely suppressing a smile.

"She wasn't too happy with me," replied Naruto and the Ancient laughed. "But still, are you telling me that there is a way through that place that doesn't involve flying?"

Yashka sighed, "All right, let me ask this, why do you want to go through it? Why not go around it?"

"There is no way around it, the electric fences _lead_ to it, if you can call it leading," replied Naruto. "That reminds me, the Kyuubi told me to tell you that that was a great idea with the Raiton-infused fences," Naruto's face fell a little. "Though I think it gave her some weird _ideas_…"

"Well, she was always kinky like that," commented the Ancient. "That reminds me, I need to take you to a night club one of these days and get you hooked up with some ladies."

Naruto placed his hands over his face and mumbled, "Why are all my teachers perverted? Is it just a curse I'm stuck with?"

"No, you don't have a curse on you," said the Ancient seriously. "If you did I would have taken it off already. As for the perverted part, I'm just a healthy male that lusts after girls," he shrugged. "Nothing perverted about it… well maybe the occasional S&M session is, but that's another story for another time."

Naruto tried his best to ignore what both the Kyuubi and the Ancient were talking about as he finished his dinner and went to his room to sleep. '_God damn you… beings!'_ he thought in annoyance.

After a good night's sleep it was back to training for Naruto. The blonde found himself, once again, standing on the edge of that accursed military base that lay right between the jungle and the castle. '_No walk in the park,'_ randomly thought Naruto. He remembered what the Ancient had said last night about finding a way around the base, but for the life of him could not see any other way to go except forward.

'_I'm missing something,'_ concluded Naruto for the umpteenth time. The question was what. '_All right, let's say I do have to go around it. Where is the detour? It's definitely not here; even if I were able to climb over the fences I would still end up on the territory of the military base.'_

That left only one conclusion: that the detour was somewhere behind Naruto. But behind him were just more rows of fences, so it was before the fences, before Naruto even had any kind of knowledge that the military base existed. A fork in the road, that is what Naruto had to search for. A fork in the road that he had obviously missed. The problem was that the course was pretty linear, there seemed to be a set path that had been intended for him to take despite the abundance of jungle around him.

"**Then it is a hidden fork in the road,"** advised the fox. "**Something that you did not see and/or did not consider taking."**

Naruto had backtracked along the electric fences looking for any other way he could go until they ended, but found nothing. He continued his track for several dozen more minutes, still finding nothing. He was about to leave when the Kyuubi stopped him. "**Naruto, I think you should look around this area a bit more,"** she said.

Naruto turned back in confusion, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "There's nothing here Kyuu," he said slowly, his eyes digging into every detail of the landscape. "I don't see any…" his voice died in his throat as he caught a slight opening in the cave-like rock formation to his left. Naruto walked over for a closer look and pushed lightly on, what he thought was a wall, only to have his hand pass through it. "Genjutsu," he mumbled.

"**Told you so,"** Kyuubi teased arrogantly.

"But this really isn't even genjutsu, since my hand can pass through it," said Naruto as he examined the opening. "And it doesn't get dispelled when I put my hand through it. Incredible," marveled the blonde, "such a level of genjutsu."

The Kyuubi was herself amazed, but didn't let it show and instead bade Naruto to explore the cave. At first the blonde was quite hesitant, after all who wants to go explore a completely dark cave in a training course that could very well kill you if you weren't careful. But seeing as there was really no other way, Naruto decided to risk it and stepped into the cave. He cautiously progressed forward in small steps holding onto the wall with his right hand just in case. Naruto couldn't have gone more than 20 yards when he saw two lines of fire, each on one side of the cave, coming straight at him at a remarkable speed; he barely had time to pull his hand away before it was caught in the flame.

Naruto looked back, following the path of the light, and noticed that there was no opening behind him anymore, but a solid wall with a faint faded out picture on it that looked like a bird or something. The blonde turned to the side to look at the flames that were burning on top of water, or so it seemed. He thought it strange at first but then remembered that some liquids had flammable properties, and nodded in understanding.

The cave was now not a cave at all, but rather a hallway with some random designs carved into the pale yellow-stoned walls. The two lines of fire very well lit the hallway, and following the lines farther on Naruto could see that the hallway turned to the right in about 50 feet. Having no other choice, Naruto followed the passage through it's twists and turns until it ended in a ladder that led up to some sort of trap door. There had been no traps through the passage and Naruto relaxed quite a bit, but this trap door just set off all the alarms in the blonde's head. But what choice did he have? That was the only way to go, the only way to advance in the training grounds.

Naruto carefully climbed up the ladder, and even though it looked to be ages old it was sturdy as if it had been made only the day before. He slowly and cautiously pushed the trap door up several inches by the large circular handle on the near side and peeked out; all he saw were leaves and branches. Naruto pushed the door up a ways more and peeked out once again, this time being able to look left and right; he still saw nothing but shrubbery. The blonde was getting annoyed and decided to risk it, he flung the door open and ducked up hoping to avoid any incoming projectiles. But none came and after a couple seconds Naruto climbed out of the passage to see where he had ended up.

It was a courtyard, a humongous rectangular courtyard lined with giant stone pillars supporting an overhang that only covered the space between the pillars to the walls. The rest of the ceiling was completely open proving a view of the magnificent clear blue sky. However, the courtyard was in ruins, vines were crawling up the pillars and walls, weeds grew from in between the cracked giant stone plates that had once made up the floor of the glorious courtyard, shrubbery – like the kind around where Naruto was standing – was scattered through out. The entire place seemed to have had the life drawn out of it, the pillars and walls had lost their original color, cracks were visible in everything, and an unwavering desolate feeling hung in the air like a horrid stench.

Naruto looked down into the passage way and noticed that it was completely dark as the cave entrance had been when he first stepped in. '_So it's made to light up only when someone goes in there, clever,'_ thought the blonde. He shut the trap door and went to explore the courtyard. After several minutes he discovered that there were three doors, one on each of the longer sides and another one on the shorter side opposite the trap door. The only difference between the doors, other than location, were the different symbols carved into them. In a clockwise direction from the trap door, the first door had a shining sun, the second had a crescent moon, and the third had a large oak carved into it.

"**The sun, the moon, and the earth,"** remarked the Kyuubi thoughtfully.

'_But which one's right?'_

"**Who knows,"** answered the fox. "**On the one hand, it might be the earth since this course started out with a jungle, but on the other maybe it's not the earth because the first part was a jungle."**

Naruto nodded gravely, he could see the dilemma that he was faced with, pick the wrong door and who knows what could happen. And at the moment Naruto was torn, his gut told him to go with the sun, his reason had already picked out the earth, but the crescent moon just looked so enticing. Naruto thought back to Yashka's explanation of the course and noted that once he had stepped into it, the castle clue seemed to make no sense at all. Using that logic the earth door didn't fit, since it had a whole lot to do with this course and the moon door, which seemed to have nothing to do with the course, was now the better choice. However, the sun also didn't fit in anywhere, except for the fact that it was constant daylight in the training course.

The more he thought about it, the more it confused him, so finally Naruto decided to just go forward and deal with the consequences later. Thus Naruto found himself at door number two, or the crescent moon door. The blonde walked in to find himself on the edge of a long drop with only the walls on either side still intact, only about 50 feet across did the floor continue again. Naruto sighed, he could try and jump that, but had a feeling he wouldn't quite make it. This left him with only one choice, to wall-walk to the other side, which he could do without a problem because of his good chakra control.

The real problem came halfway through the walk when a row of spears unexpectedly came out of the wall and stabbed Naruto through the foot; the spears disappeared a moment later leaving the blonde in horrible pain. Only when the spears retreated did Naruto feel the pain of having his foot stabbed clean through, he screamed in pain and lost control over his chakra, thus causing him to fall. Naruto's reaction rate had improved since the first obstacle course and the blonde grabbed an exposed edge before he had a chance to fall too far.

He hung like that until the pain had subsided and Kyuubi's chakra had fixed up his foot, after which he instantly pulled himself up and, by channeling chakra to his fingertips, was able to climb up onto the wall once more and stick to it using his feet. He cursed Yashka in any way imaginable while he tried to figure out how to get around the row of spears. The spears would come out when ever anything was put in front of them; Naruto figured this out the hard way when he waved his hand in front of them, luckily he got off with no more than a scratch, which was instantly healed.

He growled lightly, '_If you can't go through go around, right?'_ Naruto remembered Yashka's advice. '_But it's a fucking wall, how am I…?'_ the blonde trailed off as he realized he could jump to the opposite wall and continue from there. '_But what if that wall also has a line of spears?'_ he hesitated.

"**Did you notice that the spears don't go out very far?"** suggested the Kyuubi.

'_Yes, but how will that…?'_ Naruto trailed off as a light bulb went off. '_Oh I see.'_ Naruto had already been sitting in a crouched position, so as soon as he came up with the idea he immediately executed it. The blonde jumped for the other wall, however not straight to the other wall but diagonally so that when the spears did come out of both sides, Naruto passed right between the tips with only some torn clothing. The young shinobi did a half flip and landed on his feet sticking to the opposite wall with a confident smirk.

The next trap on the wall was a Katon jutsu forming an impenetrable wall of fire every couple seconds and then fading out, but not enough to safely walk through before the next wall of fire was made. This forced Naruto to time the trap perfectly so he could slip through it right before the wall of fire was made again; this time, same as last time, he was forced to jump diagonally to be able to make it through safely. Finally he made it to the other side where he could walk on the floor once more.

After following the corridors for some time, avoiding all the projectile traps and jutsu traps, Naruto caught sight of something golden in the room behind two revolving pillars covered with blades that were moving from side to side, which were easy enough to pass through once you've figured out the timing of when to jump between them. But if that was indeed the end then this last stretch of corridor will have to been killer. Naruto had long ago figured out that going into the next trap infested hallway headfirst was going to get your head chopped off, so he quickly made the very familiar cross seal and created a single Kage Bunshin to test it out for him. Naruto had poured quite a bit of extra chakra into his clones so that he could withstand several hits; the proportions being about five percent of Naruto's overall chakra per hit, so these kinds of chakra reinforced Bunshin weren't very practical in real battle, but in situations like these they were quite good.

What Naruto saw made his jaw drop to the floor, the Kage Bunshin didn't get much more than five yards before he was destroyed by a combination of darts, Katon and Raiton. Jumping away from the darts had triggered a Katon jutsu to come out of the floor and jumping away from that onto a nearby wall had triggered the entire wall to light up in a Raiton jutsu.

Naruto rubbed his head as he analyzed the situation. He couldn't walk on the floor because of the little holes, which were littered along the entire corridor, shot out fire. The blonde wouldn't be able to avoid the fire by walking on the walls because one touch and electricity would roll through them. Naruto found himself laughing bitterly when he realized that he would have to walk on the ceiling, barring the chance that the ceiling was also trapped.

Naruto scrutinized the top of the passage for any kind of openings and not finding any jumped up and started walking upside down across the corridor. He was forced to jump away many times to dodge projectiles, jutsus, and sometimes both, but he finally made it to the other side and then jumped through the last trap to where he was sure to find the statue of the golden baboon.

Naruto did find it, but there was a complication. The statue was inside a large steel dome cage, while Naruto was outside of said cage. The blonde fiercely gripped the bars of the cage and violently shook it with a ferocious yell; the cage didn't even budge. He had done all this work only to find that the statue was inaccessible. Naruto checked every single spot on the cage and in the room, hoping to maybe find a release switch that would open the cage, but to no avail. That's when Naruto caught sight of it, a small indent on one of the tiles inside the cage. The blonde knelt down and leaned forward until his face was against the bars so that he could see it better; from what he could tell it was like a small handle. Naruto stood back up and walked around the cage, maintaining his eyes on the handle in the floor and noticed that some cracks between the tiles around the notch were thicker than others.

"Damn," muttered Naruto. "It's a trap door. I have to find another passage that leads to that trap door." The blonde punched the wall next to him as he looked back from where he came. He would have to go through all those traps once more so that he could make it out to the courtyard and choose another door.

"**Or you could die,"** suggested the Kyuubi.

'_Yes, that's it,'_ replied Naruto sarcastically, '_I'll just kill myself and restart the course, is that right?'_

"**Well, yeah actually. Unless you really want to go through all those traps back to the courtyard, which is through a door that you don't even know you can open from this side."**

'_Well then, all mighty Kyuubi, how do you propose I kill myself?'_ asked Naruto in annoyance.

The fox sighed, "**There is that whole corridor filled with traps behind you."**

'_I don't fancy the idea of being burned alive,'_ countered Naruto.

"**Then get shot in the head, or better yet, just walk up to the rotating blades and get chopped in half,"** recommended the fox morbidly. "**Of course, going back through all those traps will just be more training and the more used to it you get, the easier it'll be later."**

Naruto grumbled but knew that she was speaking the truth, so he backtracked his way through the traps and out to the castle courtyard. Considering that the distance between the cage room and the courtyard was pretty small, and the fact that Naruto knew where all the traps were, the blonde made it back within a half hour.

Night had fallen several hours ago outside of the training course, a light breeze rippled the grass and a half moon was shining brightly over the meadow and cabin. The Ancient was on a small hilltop across from the three gates patiently waiting for the arrival of his student. He had arrived at sunset, but decided to meditate instead of spying on his student; after all, Naruto would tell him about it anyway. Yashka placed a fifth teacup in an orderly line to his right as he heard the dull sound of the second gate opening, and looked up as Naruto trudged out the gate and towards him.

"You're looking rather beat up," he commented jokingly.

Naruto frowned in response, "That place is absolutely infested with traps."

It was a statement that bordered on a question because of the tone of Naruto's voice, hence why the Ancient felt the need to reply. "Yes. But I think the variety and difficulty makes this course a lot more interesting than the previous one."

"It's definitely not bland, if that's what you're trying to say," the young man nodded. "But I'm irked about the fact that after going through two of the doors, and having to restart from the very beginning more than half a dozen times I might add, that I still haven't been able to actually get to the statue."

Yashka stood up and motioned for Naruto to follow him, "Come, we'll talk about it over dinner." However, the young man wasn't heading toward the cabin, and noticing Naruto's confused look elaborated. "Oh yeah, forgot to mention, we'll be eating out tonight." Naruto looked at him with even more confusion, "What?" the blonde boy just shrugged and followed his teacher through a black portal that had appeared before them.

They were suddenly on the outskirts of a small festive town that was bugging with energy. After taking a little whiff, Naruto came to the conclusion that they were close to the ocean. Inside the town looked the same as any town, rows of vendors and small restaurants, bars, and clubs. This was the main street, of course, and from it Naruto could see several alleyways leading off to the residential parts of town.

Naruto looked up at his teacher and noticed that the young man was now dressed in baggy black pants and a dark red t-shirt, over which an open sleeveless gray jacket hung. Remembering that he had just come out of the training course, Naruto looked down at himself in horror knowing he would find training clothes that were full of cuts, tears, and partially burned parts. However, he was shocked to find about the same outfit as the Ancient had on except that he had no jacket and his black t-shirt, which was a little tight, had some writing on it, "Monster," was written in red in the middle, above it were some red claw slashes, and made to look like blood was dripping down from the letters and slashes.

Naruto grimaced, what would these villagers think of him now? They would probably glare and try to push him around, how could the Ancient have done this to him, wondered the young boy. However as they continued walking, Naruto noticed that the villagers were just passing him by not even looking at him, and if they did look at him then it was just a curious or thoughtful look. The blonde also noticed several girls looking at him with a light blush, while guys gave him a nasty jealous look. '_What the hell is going on here?'_ wondered Naruto. The Kyuubi simply smirked; she understood what the Ancient was trying to do.

"Umm, Ancient-sensei, where is this place we are going to?" asked Naruto.

"It's on the other side of town," replied the young man. "I kind of forgot where it was and hence teleported us the wrong place," he lied. "You like your clothes?"

"They're all right," replied the Kyuubi carrier. "How did you do that, by the way?"

"That portal we went through has the ability to change things about the person, or people, going through it," explained Yashka. "Nothing on a physical level, but it can change clothes, hair styles, equipment you're carrying, that kind of stuff." Before Naruto could ask another question, they had reached their destination.

It was a small restaurant with no distinguishing features, except the dull orange lamps that illuminated the outside and inside. The waitress was a kind young girl with long black hair and a slender build. She walked the two of them to their table, gave them their menus, and with a kind and shy smile said that she would be back with their water and bread. Naruto looked around and only saw several other people sitting at far ends of the restaurant, soft music was playing through the speakers in the ceiling, and the atmosphere was perfect for relaxing after a long day of work.

"It's a nice place," commented Naruto.

"It has the best lobster," happily said Yashka. "If you can't tell, I absolutely adore seafood."

"I wanted to ask," said Naruto meekly. The Ancient looked significantly at his student waiting for the question. "Why did you give me this t-shirt?" he finally asked.

"You mean does it have the words 'monster' and 'dare to fight?' written on it?" Naruto nodded. "Well, because in a way you are a monster," said Yashka and watched his student's face harden. "Oh come on, wouldn't you tear apart a villager from Konoha and then bathe in their blood?" the young man laughed when Naruto's face shifted first into a confused and then an agreeing look. "Look kid, we're not in Konoha. Here people don't look at you like you've just summoned the devil himself when you mention monsters or demons. Actually in most places around the world, things written on t-shirts are mostly for laughs and/or to show off."

"Oh," the blonde paused. "Yeah, I did notice that they didn't look at me hatefully. It's just really weird for me to walk down the street labeled, this time by my t-shirt as a monster, and not have people glare."

"You get used to it," shrugged Yashka. "You also get used to young pretty girls looking at you like they want to eat you, but _that_ is a little different."

"I noticed girls looking at me," said Naruto, "not quite in the way you're describing though."

"This is a pretty secluded fishing village," explained Yashka. "People here are a lot more formal and virtuous, if you were to go to a mainland city that is complete with a red-light district and the girls are a lot more open, so to speak, then you would find that look."

"I take it you get it all the time," stated Naruto.

"Well, when you're a handsome devil, got money to spend, and show off a few insignificant shinobi-like moves, women – especially those not from a ninja village – tend to swoon over you," the Ancient laughed. "But 95 percent of those are just common groupies that are only with you for your name, or money, or status in society." The young man shrugged, "I'm not looking for a wife right now, so I don't care too much."

"You know most people would say girlfriend instead of wife," observed Naruto.

"Yes, but on my life scale, having a wife is the same as having a girlfriend on a human scale," reasoned Yashka. "The only difference is the kids, grandkids, and great grandkids."

"You think I'll ever have a wife?" asked Naruto somewhat sadly. After all, all of the girls in his life never gave him the time of day, and if any of them ever found out he had the Kyuubi inside of him they would probably run screaming.

"Of course," was the absolutely confident reply.

The reply came so quickly that the blonde doubted his teacher for a moment, "Really? You're not just saying that out of pity?" Yashka shook his head. "You think she'll be better than the Kyuubi?"

At this the Ancient paused a moment to think. "In a way, yes."

Naruto tilted his head to the side, "In a way?" Yashka nodded. "You know something, don't you?"

"I know a lot of things."

"About my wife, I mean."

"You don't have a wife," retorted the young man with a sly smile.

Naruto seethed, "I'm not going to get any information out of you about this matter, am I?"

"Nope," was the short and definitive reply.

"Where are we, by the way?" asked Naruto.

"In a great seafood restaurant," replied Yashka sarcastically.

The blonde took a deep breath to calm himself, "Where are we geographically?" he emphasized the last word.

Yashka laughed, "We are on a small island in the Water Country, about 500 miles north of the Hidden Mist."

"And I was wondering, where is that cabin in relation to all this?"

"Well," the Ancient seemed to be mulling over the answer in his mind. "The easiest answer is that it's not in this world. Of course I could superimpose the cabin's astral plane onto this world's and in that case it'd be somewhere in the Lightning Country, but now you have no idea what the hell I'm talking about."

Naruto nodded, "You've really got to teach me about all these dimension things; I don't seem to be able to understand anything you say." Yashka laughed at this and promised Naruto that he would indeed teach him about it, but a lot farther down the road.

They ate calmly, not hurrying anywhere, and chatted about the training that Naruto was going through. The blonde mentioning the dome cage within which the statue resides, and then also mentioning how he went through the sun door because his gut told him so, but only ending up looking through a glass ceiling up at the statue and still not being able to reach it. Yashka laughed both times, but told his student that that was very good. He honestly hadn't expected Naruto to get through the traps as fast. Naruto bragged about he'd used a Kage Bunshin to figure out what traps lay ahead and only afterwards going in for real. The Ancient nodded in approval, but also told him to enjoy it while he could, because in the next course that tactic would be useless.

"So what happened with the earth door?" asked Yashka. "I have a hard time believing you gave up and just came out to eat."

"I got caught on the quicksand that appeared out of nowhere, in the mountains!" Naruto stressed the location.

Yashka shrugged, "I thought I'd switch things up a little. Plus, quicksand can be made anywhere, it doesn't have to be a desert, and then you just hide it with some rather nice genjutsu and the enemy doesn't realize what's really happening until it's too late."

"Wouldn't they easily realize what's happening? The enemy will be slowly sinking, how can they not know that they're stuck in quicksand?" questioned Naruto.

"Simple, because to them it'll still look like they are sinking into rock," explained the young man. "Hence they'll think they are simply stuck in a genjutsu, and if you've put a decent genjutsu, then by the time they get out of it and realize that they really are stuck in quicksand it'll be too late."

"What level do you consider 'decent'?" asked the blonde.

"High-chuunin, preferably jounin," Naruto nodded. "I'm not big on genjutsu myself, I kind of consider it cheating."

"How so?" wondered the blonde.

"Well, at my level I can dismember most high-level jounin within a minute," Naruto's eyebrows rose. "So to distract them with genjutsu while moving closer to beat the shit out of them with taijutsu just seems unfair. Plus I can cross a stadium length in five to ten seconds, depending on whether or not I'm being serious. So let's say I cast a decent genjutsu and it takes my opponent three seconds to get out of it. Well, that leaves them with two seconds to notice that I'm attacking, get ready to block, and _maybe_ think up a counter-attack; though most people won't get to the third step. So my opponent is on the defensive for the rest of the battle, not even having had the chance to think up ways to attack me."

"So you beat the shit out them even faster?" analyzed Naruto.

"Exactly," replied Yashka. "Trust me, Naruto, when you get up to a high level, like S-Class and/or a Kage level or even my level, finding a good fight where you try not to allow for openings but your opponent still finds them and can hurt you quite a bit, is very difficult."

"But no one is on your level," realized the young blonde.

"I have to toy around with Sannin level shinobi that are going all out to get anything even remotely resembling a decent fight."

"What about Uchiha Itachi and maybe Orochimaru when he'll have the Sharingan?" asked Naruto.

"Those kinds of people become dependant on their special abilities, AKA bloodlines, and if you know how to null those abilities they become lost and scared and you kick the shit out them much like you would to someone on Sakura's level."

Naruto choked on his food at that point. The Ancient could compare Itachi to Sakura, 'S_o that's the kind of level he's at,'_ thought Naruto in amazement.

"Don't worry, I'll be teaching you how to negate the Sharingan," said Yashka offhandedly as if it was the most common thing in the world. "Or at least some aspects or it. Mangekyou is a little harder to _negate_, per say, since it's not really a negation. Either you're stuck in it or you're out of it, there can be no middle ground."

"But you can do it no problem, right?"

The Ancient shrugged and tossed his head form side to side for a dozen seconds. "Well, see, at my level I can actually twist the world enough so that I use his own Mangekyou against him, but for that you need very fine tuned control and maybe even a Creational-link to the world."

"Maybe, you're not sure?" wondered the blond.

"For what I'm talking about I use Creation automatically, so it's hard to tell."

"So much for not being dependent," muttered Naruto.

Yashka smiled, "Now, now, don't pick on your poor old teacher."

Naruto face-faulted, '_Poor old teacher? What the hell is wrong with him?'_

"Anyway, that probably means that I'll never be able to do it?" inquired Naruto.

"When I teach you enough, you won't need to," assured Yashka. "To do the Tsukiyomi aspect of the Mangekyou the Uchiha _has to be _standing still. They do not have nearly enough demonic blood running through them to create dimensions on the run."

Naruto's eyes widened, "Demonic blood?"

Yashka sighed, "I may as well give you a little history lesson on the Uchiha, since I mentioned it and all." Naruto looked at this instructor in great interest; just the idea that the Uchiha had demonic blood in them was captivating enough. "Background info for this is that only beings with demonic blood running through them can create other dimensions; I wasn't going to tell you this until we started your dimension training, but consider it a little teaser. Anyway, I'm sure you've heard of the Hyuuga clan, right?" Naruto's eyes narrowed as he nodded. "Well, I'm not going to go into much detail about it, but they are originally of angelic descent," Yashka spoke the last part in a bitter, angry tone.

"I don't know exactly when it happened, but one of the demons that I brought up to Ningenkai fell in love with a member of the Hyuuga. Naturally, the Hyuuga clan didn't want a daughter of theirs married to a demon, so the couple ran away and had kids and all that good stuff," Yashka waved if off as an unimportant matter. "The fact of the matter is that the Hyuuga were gifted with the ability to see dimensions being opened and, _back then_, had the ability to counter them. By counter, I mean that they could prevent the person making the alternate dimension from entering it, or prevent the person from leaving it, or better yet catch that person as he was leaving it and kill him before he could even do anything."

"Wait a second," something clicked in Naruto's head. "If demons are the only ones that can create other dimensions and the Hyuuga can stop them, and you said that they were of angelic descent, then…"

"Yes," affirmed the Ancient, "the Hyuuga were placed on earth to counterbalance the demons that were placed on earth. Basically to make sure that the demons that were placed on Ningenkai didn't take control of the world, as they very well could if left unchecked."

"But they don't seem all that angelic," remarked the blonde.

The Ancient's tone turned incredibly bitter, "Because they aren't anymore, those bastards," he scowled in anger. "Enough about them for now, they piss me off too much."

Naruto's eyebrow rose at how much Yashka seemed to hate the Hyuuga. '_I really do wonder why.'_

"Anyway, I'm sure you've heard rumors that the Sharingan originated from the Byakugan," Naruto nodded. "Well, that is true, what happened was that the Byakugan was altered by the demonic blood running through its new host, thus it evolved. Being able to see chakra stayed the same, however, lost was the telescopic ability and the all around sight. What was altered was the ability to see the dimension gates. This turned into being able to predict movements, which stems from two theories. The first being that a person's mind could be considered another dimension and the second that states that for every single decision a person makes another dimension is created, one in which they made choice number one, another in which they made choice number two, and so on. So being able to see dimension gates can transcend into being able to see movements because you see how each separate dimension is created and then there's the Sharingan's innate ability to combine theory number one and theory number two, and hence be able to see what the person is going to do next because they have already made the decision in their mind and by filtering out the possible other moves."

Naruto's mind was racing at breakneck speeds trying desperately to figure out what the Ancient was talking about, but was failing miserably. He heard the Ancient reassure him that once they started dimension training that it would explain all the basics and that this would make a lot more sense, but that really didn't help at the moment. He finally heard Yashka start talking about the Mangekyou and willed himself to pay attention, even if he didn't understand any of it.

"The Mangekyou is, in simple terms, a dimension maker," continued the Ancient. "It makes what is called the Void World, in which the maker has absolute control over time flow, scenery, distance, and a few other things. I'll explain this in detail later, but for now I'll give you the overview of the Tsukiyomi. The Void World is – was – an interrogation technique. The person that makes that world can force memories, his own or the other person's to surface and project themselves within the Void World. Now the Tsukiyomi is a modification of all this, what it does is exploit the set up link between the Void World and the mind of the captive person to make whatever happens in the Void World, also happens in the mind of the captive. Basically a reverse, instead of pulling memories they are added. Since time is an aspect controlled by the instigator, he can say 'experience event A for three days straight', and the event will in fact go on for three days in mind's time of the captive, which is a theory I _really_ don't want to get into right now. Basically whatever the instigator says is what happens in that world. Ok?" Yashka stopped at that point as he noticed his student's glazed eyes and timed nod that meant he had lost track of what was being talked about a long time ago.

It took a minute for Naruto to notice that the Ancient had stopped talking and that he was still nodding at a timed rate. The young teenager shook himself out of his daze and apologized for zoning out. Yashka simply laughed it off and said that he also zoned out when it had first been explained to him, the young man did note that this was one of those things that are a lot easier to understand if you're experiencing or doing it. The rest of the dinner passed without event and soon they were already on their way back to the portal that would take them to the 'training course' dimension.

Naruto was once again amazed and slightly unnerved by the how all the people were looking at him. It wasn't hate; it was admiration from the girls, jealousy, maybe some anger, from the guys, and just a general neutrality or indifference from everyone else. It was, weird; that was really the only way to describe it. That was it; a night out to dinner, a good night's sleep, and Naruto was back in the training course the next morning.

"That was a nice story," said Zeph. He had decided to join Yashka in watching Naruto's progress in the training course.

"It was, wasn't it?" said Yashka in slight egotistical tone. "Though up most of it on the spot, but it was partially true."

"'Partially true and mostly a lie,' to quote your own words," replied the assistant.

Yashka spared him an annoyed sideways glance, "I embellished, built on pre-existing easily accepted rumors, and drowned it all by theory. Plus, it's not like that story is completely bogus."

Zeph smirked, "Oh yes, of course, it's true; if you neglect the fact that its truth flows in the opposite direction."

"What are you worried about? The truth is hidden away in scrolls long lost in the depths of the Hyuuga library that those arrogant bastards don't ever bother to read; so drunk on power and social status that they have completely forgotten their origins."

"Just making sure you don't make the same mistake," said Zeph and disappeared.

The Ancient grimaced and turned his attention to screen showing Naruto, "I don't think I will," he whispered.

Back in the training course: since the problem was finding a way through the castle to the statue of the golden baboon, Naruto had made sure that he was fluent with the trap in the jungle and could easily go through them with out even setting them off. Thus, getting to the castle if he 'died' was, tedious, but easy nonetheless. The main problem was setting off the quicksand-based vine trap and getting away. He would need to do this to pass the exam, but the only way he could think of was to just drop a clone in there while he easily passed over it. Naruto realized that this was cheating, but couldn't think of any other way to do it; he hoped that when the time of the exam came that the Ancient would understand his reasoning and let him do so.

Naruto was now standing before the earth gate. The young blonde took a deep breath and opened the door. He then quickly ran through the first room to the double doors on the other side. Once he was behind the double doors he let out the breath he was holding and continued on with the course. That first room was something that had caught him off guard on the very first try and sent him back all the way to the beginning; a room filled with a gaseous poison that kills within a minute. Now, though, Naruto knew better and held his breath all the way through, running briskly to the other side and out of the room as quickly as possible.

The next part was the same as the first part of the moon door and Naruto easily got through it. He also easily made it through the next couple of corridors that contained some basic or mid-level traps, which Naruto had already gotten used to. Naruto quickly made it past the quicksand, but was instantly faced with an even harder problem: to get through, or around, a lake of lava. A first he thought it would be easy, just run along the wall to the other end, but the walls have streams of electricity running through them at a timed interval and are too far apart for Naruto to jump from one to the other to avoid the attack.

The blonde started pacing along the edge of the lake in deep thought. He looked up at the ceiling but didn't find one as his eyes fell on the blue sky in which a single white cloud was floating lazily; so that plan was out. '_What the hell am I supposed to do, fly?'_ wondered Naruto. The teenager suddenly stopped as his ears picked up a very quiet crackle. The boy tried to pinpoint its origin, but was left staring straight ahead across the lava.

"**Genjutsu,"** hinted the fox, and Naruto immediately cancelled it. The young shinobi raised an eyebrow at what he saw in front of him. Four ropes were hanging in a row above the middle of the lava pit electricity visibly running consecutively through each one with only a couple seconds of delay. What they were hanging from, Naruto did not know, but figured it was probably something beyond his current understanding of the world.

'_So I have to jump from one rope to another quickly enough so that I don't get shocked,'_ thought Naruto with a sigh. It wasn't as easy as it sounded considering that the ropes weren't very close together and Naruto would have to swing back and forth once or twice before he built up enough momentum to carry him to the next rope. '_Well, here goes,'_ thought the blonde as he jumped up to the first rope just as the electricity was leaving it.

It took Naruto ten tries before he realized that the ropes weren't the only things that had been hidden in genjutsu. During one of his falls, Naruto ended up breaking a rib from landing on something right above the lava momentarily before slipping off the said something into the lava, which earned him a one-way ticket to the jungle. Needless to say, the blonde lay in pain on the forest floor until, miraculously, the Ancient arrived and set his broke rib back into place. The young man then poured, what seemed to be, an enormous amount of healing chakra into the blonde's body.

"You didn't have to heal it up, you know?" asked Naruto.

"I figure with all the wear and tear the training course puts on you, this is a nice break for the Kyuubi's chakra," reasoned Yashka. "Plus, it's not like I'm going to need chakra in the near future."

"Yashka-sensei, I thought you said that there wouldn't be anymore invisible objects in this course?" questioned Naruto.

"Did I really say that?" wondered the Ancient in a dazed tone.

Naruto nodded, "Yes, you assured me that there wouldn't be anymore."

"No, no, my dear boy," chuckled the Ancient. "You asked if there were any invisible walls or ceiling, and I replied – truthfully – that there aren't any."

Naruto scowled at being caught on technicality, "Then how do you explain the ropes hanging in mid air?" he asked defiantly.

"The ropes," wondered Yashka absentmindedly.

"The ones hanging about the lava pit," elaborated Naruto.

"The bending of the physicals laws of the world," said Yashka as if flying ropes were an everyday occurrence; Naruto sweat-dropped at his teacher's antics.

The boy got up and it suddenly registered that he was still inside the training course. He looked up at his teacher skeptically, "If we are still in here, then how did you know that I had been injured?"

The Ancient slowly rolled his eyes around clockwise, "I smelled it?" he asked not really trying too hard to lie, but hoping at the same time that Naruto would buy it.

Naruto, of course, didn't buy it. "You smelled it?" he said slowly; the Ancient briskly nodded like a little kid that had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but was still denying it. "How about the truth?" asked Naruto briefly wondering how the Ancient could act so silly and still be, well, The Ancient.

Yashka fake-pouted, "Fine, I'll tell you my secret. I can see anything that's happening within the training course, by using a special jutsu from the outside." Naruto nodded, he had long ago noticed that the Ancient seemed to have foreknowledge of what had transpired in the training course before Naruto even had a chance to open his mouth at dinner. Yashka's face suddenly turned serious, "Things like that don't matter much though. What matters is that you have yet to even reach the golden statue for the first time," he said in a surprisingly serious tone. With that he disappeared leaving Naruto to redo the course once more.

Thirty minutes later Naruto was once again standing at the edge of the lava lake. He guessed on where it was that he had fallen and indeed noticed that the texture of the lava around there wasn't constant. "**The intense heat is making the genjutsu waver, while it doesn't disappear completely, it is noticeable."** Naruto smirked, if he could jump down to whatever it was down there and wait out the electric current he would be over to the other side in no time. The blonde boy did just that, but when he landed on the hidden object, he found that standing on top of it was proving exceedingly difficult every second. Before he knew it, the thing he had been standing on seemed to twist forward and Naruto was left to fall backwards into the lava.

"God damn it!" he yelled as he saw the familiar sight on the beginning of the course once more. '_What the hell was that thing?'_ wondered Naruto.

"**Probably a thin cylinder that starts spinning after a certain time,"** analyzed the Kyuubi. The blonde sighed; this was going to be a long day. He would have to jump off the cylinder before it started spinning, but after the electricity had left the rope.

It was late in the night now; Naruto had been in the training course for over twelve hours now. The Ancient was patiently waiting for his student to return. He knew the difficulties that lay with the second test, and it wasn't just the three doors that Naruto had to go through; it was the final step that was the hardest. Then, of course, there was also the whole thing with having Naruto fight a cage-match with a rather difficult opponent. This time around the Ancient wasn't going to give him some pushover like that samurai, this time Naruto was going to have to fight a very difficult taijutsu master. This opponent might be easier in comparison to Lee or Gai – Yashka had, of course, been there for the prelims of the chuunin exam – simply because he couldn't open the gates, but still had a lot of speed and experience.

Now experience was something that can't be taught, you have to learn it on your own. Lee might be a very good and strong fighter, but he does not have the experience to predict what his opponent is going to do next. Naruto didn't have much experience at all; Konoha genins did missions suitable for community service in a completely peaceful country. '_D-Rank missions,'_ the Ancient scoffed. '_If the Hidden Leaf was under attack the genin would be practically evacuated with the civilians.'_ Of course their explanation being that the next generation would survive and then rise up from the ashes and rebuild Konoha or some bullshit like that.

But the Ancient knew that first year rookies were, generally, no more useful than a sack of potatoes. He knew why the genin exams had a 66 percent fail rate, because most of the kids were just infatuated with the idea of becoming heroes but otherwise weren't nearly cut out to become shinobi. This was exactly why chakra control wasn't taught in the academy, if 66 percent of the kids wouldn't ever use it then why waste the effort to teach them. Wasted effort, this was one of the reasons the Mist had previously had that barbaric genin exam, so that parents wouldn't enter their kids into the ninja academy as if it was a regular school.

Then there were the stupid rules of the chuunin exam: it's not against the rules to kill; yet they will stop the match if a person is going for the kill. Seriously, genin in Konoha are so sheltered. The Ancient idly wondered how the most peace-loving country that was smack in the middle of the shinobi world had survived for so long. He knew the reason was the management, of course, if the Hokages had been chosen slightly differently Konoha might have already been a hole in the ground. '_Oh well,'_ shrugged Yashka. '_Not that it really matters that much now.'_ His thoughts coming to a halt as he saw Naruto walk in, take a seat across from him, and quietly begin eating his dinner.

Yashka quirked an eyebrow, Naruto was never this quiet. "Hey kid, how'd it go?"

Naruto looked up at the Ancient, "I reached the end," he replied monotonously. "Except that it was still a glass ceiling above which the statue stood." The blonde lowered his head back to look at his food as he continued to chow down.

"Well, you've got to look underneath the underneath, Naruto-kun," said a voice that was definitely not the Ancient's.

Naruto's head shot up as he recognized the voice of his former teacher, Kakashi. "Jesus!" cried the blonde and fell backwards in his chair.

'Kakashi' was having a hard time keeping a calm face, then decided it wasn't worth trying anyway and doubled over in laughter. A white wind snaked around his body from head to toe to reveal none other than Yashka. "You fell for it," he managed to say in between fits of laughter; the young man tried to calm himself, but to no avail.

Naruto grimaced; he'd been easily fooled. Even the Kyuubi was betraying him and laughing with the perpetrator. He picked up his chair, placing it in its proper position before sitting down and finishing his dinner.

"Seriously though, Naruto," said the Ancient, "this course is made so that you have to use your brain, not just your brawn."

"So you're saying that I missed something important?" asked Naruto.

Yashka sighed, "Look, last hint of any sort that I'm going to give you, think about what you know about castles and then see if you really did miss something," he finished in a slightly annoyed tone. With that Yashka bid the teenager a good night and walked out of the cabin.

Naruto thought on what the Ancient had told him, but couldn't come up with the missing link of information that he was missing. He had been absolutely enraged when he finally came to the end of the course, or so he thought, only to find that he was once again faced with the glass ceiling that separated him from the statue. Naruto tried to break the glass with his fists, feet, the Rasengan, and any other kind of technique he knew, but it wouldn't budge. Being tired and really angry, Naruto didn't want to deal with all those traps and just jumped into the pool of lava, so that he could get out of the training course.

"Kyuu, what's so special about castles that I'm completely missing it?" asked Naruto.

"**There are a lot of things that are special about castles," **stated the fox. "**But I think the thing that the Ancient wants you to focus on is the fact that they have many secret passages."**

'_Secret passages,'_ thought Naruto. '_That's it!'_ It would be like the passage through the cave and the trap door that leads inside the castle in the first place. Now all the blonde had to do was find this secret passageway. But where would he start, he wondered. It's not like there was going to be a big crack in the wall showing him that this was indeed a secret passage. Naruto drifted off to sleep as he was replaying the course inside his head trying to find something that stood out.

The next morning the Ancient was nowhere to be found and neither was the customary breakfast that he would leave Naruto. The blonde was slightly alarmed by this and became worried that he had done something to upset his teacher. Thus he fished out some food from the fridge, ate it as quickly as possible and ran off to the training course to beat the puzzle.

Naruto had to go through the earth gate three times, back and forth, before he finally noticed it; a small niche that was way too precisely carved to be a normal crack. Previously, Naruto had thought that finding it would be the hardest part, but he was wrong; getting to it was going to be twice as hard. The niche was located on the upper part of the left wall that bordered the lava pool. It seemed that the Ancient wanted his student to jump from one of the ropes to the niche, activate it, and not get hit by the electricity that was going through the ropes and the walls. '_Great, just great,'_ thought Naruto.

The blonde boy took a deep breath and jumped onto the first rope, using his momentum he only needed to swing once before he could just over to the next one; doing the same going for the second rope. The third rope, however, is where things got tricky. Naruto couldn't use his forward momentum because he needed to change direction by 90 degrees so that could jump to the left wall. Naruto decided to use the minimal most speed while swinging from the second rope to the third rope so that he wouldn't have to wait long until the rope was swinging in the right direction.

The one good thing was that making the secret passage open wasn't as hard as Naruto thought it would be, all the blonde had to do was simple touch the indentation in the wall and it opened up revealing a dark corridor. This one was indeed devoid of light; Naruto stumbled blindly through the passageway, holding onto the wall for support and as a guide for the turns. Finally the gloom ended and several faint streaks of light coming out of small holes in the ceiling became visible, and Naruto hurried over to them. The sources of light were small cracks in a trap door; Naruto hoped that he had indeed found the door he had been looking for.

The blonde pushed up on the trap door and was greeted by a large quantity of light hitting him straight in the eyes. "Argh!" he cried and shut the trap door as both hands went to cover his eyes. After a few moments, Naruto tried again, this time opening the door slowly and gradually, squinting at the light that broke through. Finally Naruto got used to it and jumped up, pushing the trap door completely open as he did so, and landed on the level above him. Naruto looked around and smiled, he had made it, in front of him stood the statue of the golden baboon. The blonde didn't want to touch it yet, knowing that he would just be teleported outside of the training course; he wanted to bask in the glory of being able to get to the end of this forsaken course. Once he was done, however, Naruto did touch the statue and he was back out in front of the cottage.

The next week was split between meditation training and obstacle course training. Once Yashka had found out that Naruto made it to the end he insisted that the blonde boy had to improve all of his senses so that he would be able to survive the third and final course. Naruto didn't mind too much, since after he improved his visual senses he noticed that seeing in the dark tunnels became a bit easier. Yashka explained that with enough advanced meditation a person could force his eyes to see in the dark, especially if that person already had connections to animals that have night vision.

With the numerous amount of times that Naruto had gone through all the traps, the only difficult part of the exam would be the fight against which ever opponent Yashka was select against him. Somehow he knew that that samurai guy from the last test was easy compared to what he was going to get this time around.

"You ready?" asked Yashka on the morning of the exam.

"As much as I'll ever be," replied Naruto.

"Now remember, first time through you have to avoid all the traps," the Ancient recapped the rules of the exams. "And second time through you have to set them off and afterwards you'll be fighting against an opponent of my choosing."

Naruto nodded, "What about the traps that are constantly in place?" inquired the blonde. "Like the electricity that goes through the ropes and walls?"

"You just have to avoid getting hit by that both times," clarified the young man.

Naruto took a deep breath and disappeared through the gate to the second course. Yashka calmly walked up to the gate and activated all the cameras in the course, making them follow Naruto's movement and check that he did indeed get by all the traps without activating them. '_Pretty good speed, Naruto-kun,'_ contemplated the Ancient. '_But you will see soon that it is not nearly enough.'_

Yashka watched as Naruto successfully completed the first part of the exam, and pulled out a soul charm in the shape of a ten pointed star, no bigger than one inch in diameter. He walked over the left side of the gate and placed the star into a special opening, which it fit into perfectly; it glowed a dull red. Naruto came out of the gate a moment later and noticing the glowing charm, nodded in understanding, he turned around and walked back into the gate.

Naruto reached the statue without much difficulty, even if he had to set off some of the most dangerous traps he had ever seen and barely escape them. As soon as he jumped up into the cage, Naruto noticed the statue missing and in its place stood a solitary warrior. He was dressed in an all-gray fighter's gi, he had long dark red hair, and his face was bowed such that Naruto could not see his face clearly. The man was standing as still as a statue until Naruto dropped himself into a fighting stance. At that point, the man raised his head and moved into a fighting stance of his own.

Naruto couldn't feel any chakra coming from the man, but could tell that he was a taijutsu expert. The blonde's suspicions were confirmed when the man rushed him at a very fast speed. Naruto barely had enough time to block, before the next assault came, and then the next. On the fifth strike Naruto hadn't been fast enough to block and the man landed a strong punch that sent the young shinobi flying backwards right into the cage wall behind him. Naruto's opponent didn't waste any time as he continued his assault on the blonde boy.

However, right before the man struck at him again, Naruto used Kawarimi on a clone that he had created in a second ago and had sent behind his opponent; thus allowing Naruto to get behind his opponent. The redhead was slightly confused for a moment, when the clone poofed out of existence, then he scowled and mumbled something in a language Naruto did not understand. Not wanting to lose any kind of advantage he may have gained, the blonde instantly did several hand seals and pressed his palms to the ground. Giant spikes came out of the ground under the red-haired fighter, but he jumped out of the way and rushed at Naruto once more not giving him enough time to complete his next set of hand seals, thus forcing the teenager to fight him with taijutsu.

The problem was that Naruto's taijutsu was the mostly the kind that he had been taught in the academy and the taijutsu master seemed to be able to predict anything Naruto was going to do and counterattack on almost every single one of Naruto's strikes. At this point Naruto took a deep breath and drew on the power of the Kyuubi to enhance his speed and strength; for him this was the same as opening the celestial gates was for Lee. Power rushed through Naruto's body and pulsated as it reached the maximum capacity he could handle at the moment. The blonde boy dashed forward at a faster speed than the redhead had used so far and managed to punch his opponent in the face.

However, the fight was far from over as Naruto suddenly noticed that the red-haired fighter's speed increased and he matched Naruto's perfectly, which for the blonde boy meant that he had once again lost his advantage. The Kyuubi abruptly suggested that Naruto should use his kunai and shuriken to give himself a little bit of an edge. Naruto did as he was instructed and did indeed gain a good enough advantage where he could force his opponent into a defensive position, but still found it very hard to land a hit.

Overall, the redhead managed to get in much more hits on Naruto, but given Naruto's healing factor the wounds the blonde boy received about equaled the ones he was landing. The match continued as such for another ten or fifteen minutes, when Naruto noticed that his adversary was tiring. Using this to his advantage, Naruto pressed his attacks more, but while doing that got sloppy in his defenses and was thrown back. This would have been a lot worse, if the shinobi hadn't noticed that with each passing minute the man seemed to tire out more and more.

Naruto pressed the Kyuubi to give him more chakra even though he was at his physical limit. The Kyuubi, though worried about her container, gave Naruto the chakra he asked for and watched as his speed once again surpassed that of the redhead. Naruto knew he wouldn't be able to hold this state for a prolonged period of time, so he let himself slip into a semi-consciousness freeing up his rage and giving the Kyuubi partial control of his body so that she could tear apart the redhead.

So it happened that Naruto was lying on the floor of the cage, breathing heavily while in opponent was nowhere in sight. Yashka gently picked up the blonde and teleported out of the training course and into the cottage, where he laid Naruto on his bed. Yashka knew what Naruto had done and thus let the Naruto's own healing abilities take care of the damage instead of healing his student. This way Naruto's body would advance to being able to support more of the Kyuubi's chakra at any one time. He briefly wondered if what had been achieved was indeed a fair victory, but decided that he had not made any special arrangements beforehand and thus could not hold Naruto responsible.

The next day, Naruto was already up and about. He had gotten up sometime after midday and, not finding the Ancient inside the cottage, stepped out into the warm sunshine outside. Naruto spotted the Ancient meditating on top of the small hill in the direction of the obstacle course gates and made his way to his teacher.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun," greeted Yashka in an amused voice. "Though perhaps it's more accurate to say good afternoon." Naruto responded accordingly and asked if he had passed the test. "Yes, you did rather well."

"But not good enough, right?" inquired Naruto. "After all, I only beat that guy after I let the Kyuubi take partial control."

"That is not really what I was referring to," clarified Yashka. "You won mostly because the soul energy of that fighter had waned, and thus you were able to take him down. Though, you did pretty well considering that your taijutsu style is one of the worst ever created." Naruto grimaced. "Well maybe I shouldn't say quite that, more like your taijutsu style is so basic that no matter which style your opponent used they would be able to guess your moves."

"That's bad," remarked Naruto in a mumble.

The Ancient nodded, "Yes, which is why I will be teaching you several other, much better, taijutsu styles."

Naruto's eyes lit up, "Really?"

"Of course," confirmed Yashka. "In fact, I was hoping to have you start on the basic punches, kicks, and blocks now."

Naruto eagerly accepted, even though his body still ached from the over use of demonic chakra. "Wait, if I passed the test then shouldn't I be moving on to the third course?" wondered Naruto.

"Yes, but you need to become a lot more acrobatic before you go there," explained the young man. "This style relies on speed and acrobatics, as you'll notice soon. Thus I'll have you learning the style while gaining the necessary skills to pass the third course."

Naruto thanked his new teacher, who just shrugged it off as a teacher's duty. Naruto then started working on the attacks and blocks of the new style by watching and mimicking what Yashka was doing. By the end of the day, Naruto had mastered the very first couple of punches and blocks and had a general idea of how to do the kicks, but considering the fact the style was based on acrobatics, most of the kicks were done in a spin or jump or a position where the other foot was not on the ground.

Yashka called it quits a little ways after sunset. "Hey, you want to know an interesting fact?" asked the Ancient in an amused voice.

"Sure."

"You know the whole thing with the three different doors and how you only picked the right one at the very end?" Naruto nodded. "Well, actually, it's set up so that you have to go through all of the doors before you can access the statue." Naruto's face darkened. "See, no matter which two doors you would have gone through in the beginning, they would have all ended up as dead ends. Well, technically, the third one also ends as a dead end, but it is also the only one that has a switch for the trap door."

"You mean to say that I spent all my time trying to pick out the right door all for nothing?" yelled Naruto.

"You didn't really spend that much time," mumbled Yashka. "And you should be happy; the moon door has the trickiest secret switch." Something suddenly clicked in the Ancients mind. "Hmm, actually all you really had to do was simply open and close two of the doors, without even stepping through them, and the map would have been set such that the third door had the switch. I'll have to make a modification on that," mused the young man.

* * *

I swear I dont mean for these chapters to be this long, they just come out that way... and while you people might appreciate long, long chapters, my beta will tell you that they are difficult to go through and proof-read/error-check.

Random fact 1:Occasionally I get so enthralled in the story that I start writing out of first person. This usually goes on for about 2-3 lines, before I realize and go back and change it.  
Random fact 2: Some people had been asking me this before. It took me about 20 hours of writing time to make this chapter. 10 of that was in one day... I wasn't writing too coherently at the end of that though...

Next chapter: Course of Doom... tun dun dun... uhh... It'll probably be as long, if not longer, than this chapter was.


	12. Course of Doom

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Thank you to all my reviewers!

"blah" speech  
"_blah_" thoughts  
"**blah**" Kyuubi's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Kyuubi's thoughts

Q: About making Naruto uber powerful?  
A: Yes and no, it's hard to answer so early in the story. Actually I can't give a proper answer without spoilers.

Q: About Naruto going back to Konoha?  
A: I have many 'wonderful' years of training planned.

Q: How long had Naruto been training?  
A: I don't really keep track of real-time training. I have an overall schedule, so at certain points I'll make a refernce to how much time has gone by, but don't expect me to make weekly (story-time) comments.

Glorifying the Ancient and putting down Naruto? Well, I'll agree slightly with the first part, but the latter? I don't think I'm putting him down. In a way, I'm trying to show the level difference between him and Naruto...

Training, at least this part of it, is staring to bore me too... so it's gonna to be somewhat sped up in this chapter.

Now then, horribly sorry about not updating, but spring quarter was killer.

One last thing, this for all those people out there who threaten their readers with discontinuing the story if they don't review enough: You do realize that if you stop updating you're also gonna stop getting reviews... And if you really want more reviews, MAKE YOUR STORY BETTER!

**As of 9/23/08: **Grammatical changes.

* * *

Chapter 12 – Course of Doom

The Ancient opened his eyes, blinking several times as if he had just come out of a prolonged state of trance. He looked around and found Naruto punching and kicking a training dummy, which the young man had set up two days earlier.

'_That thing looks beat to hell,'_ he thought with confusion. Yashka looked up and noticed that the sun was about an hour away from setting. '_Oh,'_ he realized somewhat dismayed. It turned out that he had been in trance for about a day and a half. '_Well that's not good,'_ he thought briefly. After all, he had 'woken up' about 300 years ago and wasn't scheduled to 'fall asleep' for another seven, or so, hundred more years. However, these trances were fairly accurate indicators of overall fatigue and the Ancient used them to determine when he would have to hibernate again and for how long.

That's right, the Ancient takes time off from his job to sleep for a prolonged period of time, like a millennia or two. This serves two purposes: first is that his body is able to rebuild itself with completely new tissue, thus allowing him to stay young and vigorous, and the second is that it is simply too boring to stay awake if nothing interesting is happening. Yashka is gifted with a narrow range of prophet abilities; constrained to only being able to predict events that will require his intervention. Thus he would set an advanced alarm clock that would get him up ten years before the prophesized time.

The last wake up call being the waning of the global war that would lead to the formation of the Hidden Villages and the isolation of the Shinobi World from the rest of the chaos happening around the globe; that is, once Yashka interfered. The solution had been simple: kill the reigning general of the Elites, thus stopping him from leading an assault on the eastern rebel province, which was evacuating into the far east beyond the Radiation Lands. With the general dead, all activity halted and the rebels were able to safely evacuate; flee, being a better description of it.

Yashka shook his head; memory lane was getting the better of him. He had much more pressing issues to deal with, like why Naruto wasn't practicing his blocks. The young man stood up and walked over to his student.

"Hey, glad to see you awake," greeted Naruto as he continued punching the dummy.

Yashka blinking, Naruto hadn't even needed to turn around to know that he was coming; that was unusual. Then he suddenly remembered that a trance lasting more that 24 hours would nullify his presence eraser, and a trance lasting more than 48 hours would nullify his chakra eraser. '_Good thing that didn't happen,'_ he though with a frown as he reset the presence eraser. '_I don't want Naruto to know just how much power I have yet.'_

Naruto took a quick glance behind him and was surprised to find the Ancient still standing right there. "I thought you would have left," he commented.

"I'm too tired," said Yashka as he stretched.

Naruto's face fell into a frown, "Hey, you've been asleep for 37 hours now, you can't be tired."

"Sure you can," countered the Ancient. "What, never heard of too much sleep?" Naruto shook his head. "Well, then, you don't live a sloth enough lifestyle." Yashka's face split into a lazy, silly grin. "But that's not the point here. The point is why aren't you doing your blocks?"

"I already mastered those," replied the blonde.

"Show me," ordered Yashka falling into a loose stance. "I'll attack, slowly, and you block using only the blocks I taught you." Naruto nodded and Yashka attacked.

The Ancient did in fact go slowly, but only to start off. Once he figured out that Naruto had at least learned the blocks, he started speeding up and forcing the blonde to block almost on instinct. A few minutes later the Ancient stopped and nodded once. "Good, good," he mused. "You slipped up a couple times, using blocks taught to you in the academy, but overall you did very well."

"That's only because you attacked at breakneck speeds," yelled Naruto.

"Nah," replied the Ancient in a drawn out tone.

'_He was only testing me, huh?_' Naruto smirked, "So more advanced blocks now?" he wondered.

"Nope, those are all the blocks this style has," informed Yashka.

Naruto's mouth hung open, "No way."

"Yeah, this style is ninety percent attack and five percent blocks," explained Yashka.

"Then what's the other five percent?"

"Watching your opponent and waiting for them to give you an opening," the Ancient smirked. "As I told you before, this style is based on speed and agility. You're not supposed give your opponent time to attack, if you ever find yourself being pushed back while using this style that means you're doing something wrong."

"My speed, huh?" said Naruto as he looked at the third gate.

"Don't worry about the course for now. Come, let us spar a little," Yashka flipped back to a proper fighting distance. "I'll show you a few combinations from the style," his tone did not allow for any disagreement and Naruto stepped away from the training dummy and slipped into a loose version of the stance he had learned.

The two fighters watched each other for little bit before the older one lowered his presence eraser and attacked. Yashka rushed in with a seemingly straight punch, but just as Naruto went to block it, the Ancient disappeared. Naruto felt a presence behind him and ducked just fast enough that the kick only grazed his hair. However, when the blond was going to go for a counter he found that the Ancient was nowhere to be found. Just as he stood up, though, his legs were taken out from under him and he found himself down on the ground with a knife to his throat.

The look in Yashka's eyes was terrifying; it was completely devoid of emotions. It seemed as though he could have killed his student right there and not have felt the slightest bit of remorse. Naruto was awestruck as he watched those dead eyes change to cheerful ones in just one blink.

"Sorry, it seems I attacked at too high of a level," said the Ancient in a slightly nervous tone. Yashka stood up and pulled Naruto up with him, "I think it would be better if I showed you the moves on the training dummy." Naruto nodded slowly but didn't say anything. The rest of the time till nightfall was spent with Yashka showing Naruto some of the more advanced moves, and then correcting Naruto as he practiced them.

The better part of the next week was spent in the same way. Naruto would wake up early and either practice taijutsu or work out in the gym for the first part of the day, then have a light spar with Yashka. The Kyuubi had been quiet the entire week and, as unusual as that was, Naruto didn't notice it. The blond ninja in question had been progressing better than the Ancient had expected; a fact that left the immortal with a strangely happy grin on his face.

"Hey, Naruto," yelled the Ancient interrupting the blonde's training. "I think it's about time you tried the third course."

Naruto's face showed shock and worry, but he nodded nonetheless. The pair walked over to the third gate, at which point Yashka pressed a stone in the left support and six screens appeared on the gate. "I'm actually going to give you a demonstration of this course," said the young man. The Ancient then explained that the screens would allow Naruto to see him as he traversed the training course. With that Yashka walked through the gate, the screens immediately flickered to focus on him.

Naruto watched with amazement as his teacher did flips, twists, and twirls to avoid getting hit; some of the projectiles passing just a couple centimeters from Yashka. '_Wow,'_ and '_damn,'_ were the only things going through Naruto's head at this point. The Kyuubi chuckled lightly at what she was seeing. She had once seen the Ancient fight and the acrobatic aspect of avoiding these traps was directly used in his fighting style; this would be very good for her kit.

A little while later, the Ancient emerged from the gates and the screens faded. "Looks like I'm a little rusty," Yashka commented as he looked himself over and saw the tears on his pants and a few burn marks on his robe.

Naruto watched flabbergasted, '_And he expects _me_ to be able to go through this course?'_ wonder Naruto in alarm. The blonde suddenly realized something important, "Wait, why did you demonstrate the course if it doesn't change?"

Yashka smirked slyly and he chuckled darkly, "This course does change. In fact, it is completely random each time through."

Naruto's face paled, "Completely random? You mean I have to be able to either sense the traps or be fast enough to get myself out of harm's way?" Yashka nodded. "That's insane!"

Yashka nodded once more, "And how many strong, sane people have you seen in your life? Uchiha Itachi, for example, completely off his gasket; same for Orochimaru. Hell, same for the leader of the Akatsuki who wants the power of all the tailed beasts. Plus, you've got to consider the frame of reference; from whose point of view are they crazy? From their enemy's, of course. If you look at it that way, everyone in the Akatsuki is crazy, but from the point of view of the organization they are completely sane people with a monstrosity of a goal." The Ancient took a deep breath, "I'm getting off course. So, chop, chop, in you go," he pushed Naruto towards the gate.

"Wait, wait, wait," protested Naruto.

"No waiting, you've been waiting and training for a week now," Yashka's face darkened suddenly. "You're going now," he said in non-questionable tone. Naruto took a deep breath and stepped through the gate.

Once inside the blonde found himself in a forest, '_Great, just like last time,'_ he thought. He took a step forward and noticed a red line appear ten yards in front of him, which he deduced to be the starting line. Naruto took another deep breath as he closed his eyes and expanded his senses as much as he could. The boy then opened his eyes and stepped up to the red line, '_Here we go,'_ he thought as he stepped over the line.

Almost instantly, Naruto felt something flying towards him. He jumped up to a near tree well in advance and a couple shuriken hit the stop where he had just been standing. '_According to Yashka-sensei's demonstration there are a lot more ninjutsu based traps than anything else.'_ Naruto suddenly realized another thing, '_The traps were all close together.'_

With his advanced hearing Naruto heard two clicks go off consecutively, one to the right and another right behind Naruto. However, the blonde saw two fireballs coming at him from both left and right. Naturally he jumped up to avoid both, the problem lay in the fact that that move had been predicted and Naruto found himself just barely twisting out of the way of half a dozen throwing knives; not all of which he managed to escape.

Landing down on the ground, Naruto swore lightly as he quickly pulled out the projectile that had caught him in the leg. '_But there were only two clicks, I'm sure of it!'_

"**Two clicks going off at exactly the same time and one going off slightly later,"** said the Kyuubi, "**thus making it sound like only two."** Naruto grumbled, it made sense, but that didn't mean he liked it.

The rest of the course continued in a similar fashion. The terrain did change a couple times, first to a rocky area then to a swamp area. The swamp had some genjutsu traps built which by them selves weren't too hard to get out of, but with the combined needle traps Naruto came out looking like a porcupine. All in all, Naruto had several burns on his arms and legs, needles and shuriken sticking out all over his body, not to mention the Raiton jutsu that managed to him square in the back.

Naruto came out of the gate not even bothering to hide the anger in his eyes; too bad the Ancient was nowhere to be found or the blonde would have taken out his anger on a live target. Instead he was forced to completely obliterate the training dummy; at least that was his excuse for the pieces of training dummy scattered about in front of the cottage. Yashka didn't seem to mind too much, he just calmly applied a healing seal to Naruto's lower back, which he removed later that night after all the wounds had healed.

"It didn't go too bad, did it?" Yashka asked in an amused voice.

"Not too bad?" yelled Naruto. "I almost died!"

"But you didn't die," calmly said the Ancient. "In fact, you made it out with minimal injuries. I'd say you did quite well. Now, you've just got to improve your senses and you'll be set."

"More meditation?" asked the blond.

"A little of that, but mostly just going through the course many times," explained the Ancient. "I, actually, suggest you meditate right before starting each training course. Then when you feel your senses improving meditate less and less until it becomes inane." Naruto listened carefully and made a note to implement exactly that.

Naruto spent the next several weeks either in the third training course, meditating, in the gym, or practicing his taijutsu. The increase in agility from avoiding the traps directly carried over into being able to perform some of the more complicated attacks in Naruto's taijutsu training. And it also turned out that the Ancient had lied, there were more blocks in the taijutsu style that he was learning. As Yashka put it, he had conveniently forgotten about them since they were blocks using legs. The Ancient had told Naruto that he could go from virtually any kick into a block if the situation so demanded.

Naruto had also figured out how to start using his surroundings well in battle, like jumping off of trees to get behind his opponent or as a means of quick redirection to surprise your enemy. Though Naruto had already learned most of the attacks of taijutsu style, he was nowhere near mastery or proficiency.

"This style," asked Naruto during a short break, "did you make it up yourself?"

"There were styles similar to it in my home world," explained the Ancient. "I really just took what I liked from fast-paced styles and combined it all together. I never was able to come up with a good name for it," he frowned at the last part.

Naruto nodded in admiration and respect. "What about there other styles that you're going to teach me?"

"One is defense-intensive with all the attack being based on counters," the Ancient replied. "And the last one is similar to the one you're learning, it'll serve mostly as an add-on. This one actual has a name, Hidden Claw." Yashka quickly extended the fingers on his right hand showing off black inch-long claws. He slowly twisted his hand around letting Naruto see them from all sides.

"Why are they black?" wondered the blonde.

"It's based on a person's dark side; mine's pitch black," Yashka slowly retracted his claws. "I learned the style a couple worlds ago from a shape-shifting clan," A small wistful grazed the Ancient's face at which Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Fond memories," explained Yashka. "Well, break's over."

Naruto nodded and shifted into a meditating position, staying in it for a couple minutes before going into the obstacle course. Yashka sighed as he took out a dozen soul charms, which seemed to be colored coded into red, yellow, and a single black. He started going through them by pressing his thumb into one and staring into space for a moment, '_No,'_ he tossed it aside and it vanished after traveling a foot. The Ancient repeated this pattern for several more charms before stopping on one, '_Maybe,'_ he thought as he let it drop into his lap.

Once he had gone through all the charms Yashka held the remaining ones in his left palm. '_Only four, huh? Well less to eliminate then. Now which of these would be the most fitting and against which does Naruto have at least a chance of winning?'_ The Ancient smirked as he picked up the single black soul charm and tossed out the rest, '_Challenges are always good.'_ Once that was done Yashka pulled out a notebook with a pen and put on a serious face.

Meanwhile Naruto was quickly trying to run away from a series of explosions that were going off at his heels. "What the hell! Can't I get a break?" he yelled.

"**I think it's meant to keep you on your toes,"** commented the Kyuubi at which Naruto grimaced. "**Well, the traps are activated by proximity, so you could try sneaking by them."**

"If I knew where they were, I would do exactly that," responded the blonde. "After all, it's not like the traps would give off chakra signatures, right?" The Kyuubi shrugged mumbling something about not putting it past the Ancient to do something like that.

It really boggled Naruto's mind how the third course not only had random traps each time, well many were the same they were just randomly placed, but also had a random terrain each time. The terrain seemed to mix of all the possible environments in the world, a desert oasis might turn out to be a swamp a couple dozen yards behind which sat a thick forest in the middle of which might be huge lake.

It was the forests and/or jungles that Naruto learned to hate the most. The traps could be planted on the smallest of twigs, which would then explode and toss the blonde into the middle of a clearing that was rigged with a Raiton jutsu and it would also just so happen that the clearing would have an anti-Doton seal on it, so Naruto couldn't even put up a barrier or sink into the ground. Thus leaving with two options: to dodge the attack, which is just a bit hard when the jutsu fills up the entire field, or to try and block with his kunai that was coated in chakra, of course. But try as he could, Naruto mostly just got fried.

The Ancient had already made a comment about Naruto becoming a deep-fried fox, at which the blonde snarled angrily. Naruto made a note to ask Yashka exactly how these traps worked. But that would be taken care of later; right now the blonde had to make it to the finish. Luckily just beyond the clearing Naruto found the lowly arched doorway that marked the staircase down to the underground arena. Naruto presumed that his final opponent would be at least his level or higher.

For being an underground facility the arena was well lit by several giant squares of artificial light sources, which were bright yet not blinding. The ceiling and walls were made out of cement blocks, while the floor was paved out of gray stone. The arena was about the same size as Konoha's stadium, maybe even a little bigger. A single staircase led down to the arena floor and there were no other entrances, as far as Naruto could see.

Upon descending to the arena floor Naruto was instantly teleported out of training course. The blonde blinked in surprise since he had always been teleported to the beginning of the course. Then Naruto noticed that the moon and stars were out and realized that he had been in the training course for longer than he had thought; his thoughts were reassured by the loud growling of his stomach.

Yashka had once again prepared a feast as if he were feeding a family of ten; though he and Naruto managed to eat it all.

"Yashka-sensei, how do the traps in the training course work?" wondered Naruto.

The Ancient smirked, "They're Proxy Seals." His smirk got bigger when he saw the confused look on his student's face, "It's a very convenient little thing into which a jutsu instruction is sealed."

Naruto blinked, "Jutsu instruction? You mean the necessary chakra and its sequence?"

"Precisely," Yashka nodded, "and the seal activates once the proxy condition has been fulfilled."

"So it activates when someone comes close enough to it," reasoned the blonde and his teacher nodded. "That's good," praised Naruto.

"Yup, and these seals get randomly scattered around the training course after the terrain has been constructed. That's really all that training course is, just a bunch of random things all randomly put together each time someone goes through it."

"That's why there's the occasional odd-ball fire jutsu on a tree top?"

Yashka nodded, "I tried to make the randomizer autonomous in terms of logical placement of traps, but it glitches occasionally."

"About these Proxy Seals, so any jutsu can be sealed into them?" inquired Naruto.

"Technically, yes, but the chakra signature each seal gives off increased with the amount of chakra sealed into it," explained the Ancient. "That's the biggest reason you aren't subject to Karyuu Endan no Jutsu."

"For which I'm thankful," muttered Naruto. "But if they have a chakra signature then that means I should be able to sense them, right?"

Yashka nodded, "Yes, but I'm sure you also understand that since the necessary chakra is sealed that the signature is a lot smaller than what it would be if a real person were to use the technique." Naruto nodded in understanding. "Of course, you must still be wondering how come you haven't been able to sense them," Naruto nodded again. "That's because if the seals are farther away from the surface, for instance if a Doton Explosion Proxy Seal is buried deep in the ground you may not sense the signature at all."

Naruto tilted his head to the side with a thoughtful look on his face, "Am I correct to assume that the jutsu originates from the seal?"

The Ancient laughed, "Correct, and you're wondering that if it's buried really deep then you won't feel the effects?"

"Exactly, even a mid-powered explosion won't have any effect past a certain depth."

"Yes, a balance must always be kept between how you hide it and the result you want to attain."

Naruto processed all this information, "Then how do I sense them if they could be hidden?"

"The same way you would sense enemies," Yashka winked at Naruto, "those also try to hide themselves. Oh and I forgot to tell you, I don't expect you to get through this course without tripping any traps. That test will simply be omitted this time; you'll simply have to get through it unscratched and then fight that thing."

Naruto raised an eyebrow; it wasn't like the Ancient to even hint at who he would have to fight. The glint in Yashka's eye only served to confirm Naruto's suspicions that his opponent was going to be hard.

A month went by before Naruto even attempted to pass the test. The blonde almost made it through when a very well hidden trap nicked him on the ankle when he was only a couple yards away from the finish. To say that Naruto was mad would have been an understatement; especially since Yashka had said that there would be only one test per day and that the remainder of the day Naruto would have to work to perfect his taijutsu. When Naruto came out of the training course he was ready to decimate everything in sight. Yashka managed to hit his student on the back of the neck and knock him out before Naruto could destroy the house they were living in. When Naruto woke up a couple hours later, the Ancient told him to convert any anger he still felt into productive training energy.

Naruto snarled, "Destruction _is_ productive training."

"On the contrary, destruction – by nature – is not productive," was the calm response. After carefully studying his enraged student Yashka proposed that they spar and Naruto was quick to agree. Since Naruto let his emotions go it wasn't as good as the usual spar, but Naruto still managed to hold his own; at least to the level that the Ancient was fighting him at.

The two fighters quickly narrowed the distance between each other. The Ancient went in for a straight punch to the gut, but was blocked by Naruto left leg as the blonde jumped up to deliver a horizontal kick. Yashka ducked under the kick and rolled away as Naruto twisted his body, such that it was in a position parallel to the ground, and punched downwards.

Naruto landed in on his arms and legs in a crouched animalistic position and instantly raised his head to see what his opponent was doing. "You're looking too late and/or not using your senses well enough," was the critique that came from much too close on Naruto's left; the blonde was instantly forced on the defensive as Yashka attacked. The Ancient had been right, this wasn't a defensive style, either you controlled the tempo or your opponent would destroy you. It was even harder for Naruto to make a successful counter-attack when Yashka was doing such a marvelous job at pushing hit own tempo.

Naruto's anger at not being able to regain control was not helped out with how frustrated he had been when he came into the spar. Finally, after almost half a minute of simply blocking Yashka's attacks Naruto decided he had had enough and attempted to counter. However, this was just the opportunity his opponent had been waiting for. As Naruto threw a punch, the Ancient dodged and grabbed his outstretched arm, then using it as a support Yashka quickly swung his legs up and savagely kneed Naruto in the face; at the same time letting go of the blonde's arm.

Naruto was thrown back across the field and flipped on the ground several times before friction finally stopped him. After lying on the ground for several moments, Naruto pushed himself up into a crouch and spit some blood from his mouth. He then eyed his teacher with narrowed eyes.

"You got too hasty; patience, my dear student, patience," the young man said in that ever-mocking superior tone that he loved to use in battle. It served so well to enrage his opponents, and the young Uzumaki was not an exception. Emotions, aside from lack of skill, are the reason people lose battles. Confusion, desperation, anger, fear; these were all merely examples of what even the most battle hardened warrior could feel. Yashka sought to teach Naruto to suppress these emotions or, if that were not possible, to teach him how to fight with them.

This was a prime example of the latter. Anger, if controlled properly, could become such a powerful tool in battle; and with Naruto's future revenge agenda it was definitely one he needed to learn to control and reap the benefits of. For now, his student was using it blindly and hence it blinded him, but Yashka would make sure – oh yes, he would definitely make sure – that Naruto had immaculate control of at least this one emotion before their training was complete.

Since the Ancient hadn't directly specified that this was a taijutsu-only spar, Naruto decided to get creative and after forming several hand seals slammed his palms into the ground.

"You're not supposed to use jutsus," said Yashka as he expertly avoided the mesh of spikes that came out of the ground.

Naruto smirked defiantly, "No, you didn't deliberately state that this time."

Yashka laughed, "You don't want to have an open spar with me because I could do something…" he disappeared from across the field and the next thing Naruto knew he was skidding back along the ground again, this time with his wind knocked out, "like that."

Naruto knew his teacher was fast, really fast, but he simply couldn't comprehend how Yashka had just done that. '_It's like he teleported in less than a quarter of a second and still had time to gain enough momentum to punch me that hard.'_

The Kyuubi inside Naruto grumbled, "**I think I know what he did…"**

Naruto's eyes shown with glee, '_Really? Could you teach me?'_

"**No, sorry kit, but he's really the only one that can teach you something like that."**

"Sorry about that, Naruto," Yashka's voice cut through Naruto and Kyuubi's chat. "I used that technique even though you had no chance to block or counter. It was unfair of me, and for that I'm sorry."

"It's alright, I did kind of deserve it since I broke the rules," replied Naruto.

"No, it's fine, since I did not explicitly state that the match was to be taijutsu-only."

Naruto shook his head, "No, we always fight with that rule, so it is practically assumed now."

The Ancient nodded, "Then we both a made a mistake." Naruto nodded in agreement, thus signifying that no one was to be blamed. "Though you do need to learn to gain control over your emotions," added the young man.

"I know, but it's just that so much raw chakra pools together when I'm angry," explained Naruto. "I just don't know what to do with it besides spending it on some huge jutsu."

Yashka shrugged, "It's pretty easy, just use it to power your punches or kicks, increase your speed, enhance your senses," he shrugged again, "distributing chakra isn't really the hard part. Keeping your mind clear is what's hard."

"Yeah, I just get the urge to destroy, maim, and kill," replied Naruto. "I don't know if that's just because of the Kyuubi or not."

"**So you think this is my fault?"** yelled the fox. "**How dare you blame me for your own problems?" **Naruto's face soured as the Kyuubi kept yelling at him, he was so preoccupied try to get a word in he didn't even notice that the Ancient was laughing at his predicament.

As funny as he found this, Yashka finally got tired and shook Naruto until he regained his senses. "Now that you've stopped trying to argue with your woman," he managed to hold back an amused smirk, "I can answer your question. While the Kyuubi certainly can influence your thinking, every human has his own dark side, and taping into that is what makes you want to destroy, maim, and kill."

"So how do I keep my mind clear?" asked Naruto. "How do I suppress this dark side?"

"Clear your mind in about the same way that you would if you were meditating," explained the Ancient. "Of course, unlike meditation you have to keep track of what is happening around you. However, we'll do that training later; right now you have two choices: either we continue this spar, but only if your mind is clear, or you go into the gym."

"Let's keep sparring," replied Naruto.

Yashka nodded, "Then get ready!" and then attacked his blonde student.

The next day Naruto once again tried his hand at passing the third course. This time, however, he got caught in a complex Doton, Katon, and Fuiton trap right at the very beginning.

"C'mon, that was a fluke," yelled the blonde. "And it was right at the beginning, it doesn't even give you a chance to evaluate me."

"I'll have that chance tomorrow," was the Ancient's calm reply.

Naruto was getting annoyed, "That was utter bullshit! Just give me another run at it right now. I'll definitely be able to get through it."

"You sure?"

"Yes," was the confident reply.

"In that case, how about a sort of compromise?" suggested the Ancient.

"What sort of compromise?" asked Naruto cautiously.

The young man grinned, "Well, I'll give your another chance today by borrowing from tomorrow."

"So if I fail I won't be able to try tomorrow, because it will have already been spent, is that it?"

"Exactly," he noticed that Naruto paused to think about it. "Of course, if you're not sure you should just wait until tomorrow."

"No, I'll take that risk," countered the blonde. "However, I have a question. If I make it through the course, but then fail to defeat my opponent will I be able to try and defeat him tomorrow?"

"No, passing the course and defeating him has to be done on the same try."

Naruto grimaced but didn't change his decision. He took a moment to clear his mind and then walked into the gate. Unluckily for Naruto, the first thing he saw was the thick foliage of a forest. '_Well, shit!'_ However, at this point Naruto couldn't go back; it was all or nothing. Since there was no time limit, Naruto slowly and carefully made his way through the forest, and then a swamp and a small desert.

Deserts, especially ones that were completely filled with sand, are incredibly dangerous. Since the ground (sand) wasn't solid the Proxy Seals could somehow move themselves, Naruto guessed that there must have been two seals right next to each other and the movement one would activate before the seal with the jutsu. But no matter how it was set up, the problem was that Naruto would think that he had managed to sneak past the trap when it was actually quite active and following him. The only upside was that the only seals in the deserts seemed to be moving ones, so if Naruto simply ran through as fast as he could then the traps would just go off behind him.

After several other close calls, Naruto finally made it to the temple not only in one piece but also unscratched. Just as the young shinobi was about to do a victory dance a black mist appeared on the other side of the arena.

'_There's my opponent,'_ thought Naruto. '_The black mist can't be good.'_

"**No shit, stupid."**

'_Just commenting... Jeez.'_

The fox grumbled but focused its attention on the mist, "_**This can't be good."**_ Then a sudden realization hit the Kyuubi. "**He couldn't have…"**

"Couldn't have what…?" Naruto couldn't finish his question as his opponent stepped out of the mist and into the artificial light of the arena.

It was a dark blue creature standing several heads taller than Naruto, a long scaled tail hung loosely on its right, scales of an even darker shade of blue covered its torso, more scales were visible covering its shins and ankles. The creature had long claws on its feet and hands; it stood slightly hunched over with its obsidian wings folded behind its back. Its black eyes seemed to focus on Naruto and it snarled showing its very pointed, and probably very sharp, white teeth.

'_It's a demon,'_ thought Naruto. '_And given the ceiling clearance, those wings could very easily be used for flight.'_

"**Yes,"** concurred the Kyuubi. **"And probably not from this world since it doesn't seem to recognize me."**

Before Naruto could make any more observations, the creature rushed at him at about the same speed that the Ancient used during their spars. Naruto jumped to the side in an effect to dodge the creature's claws. The demon let out a roar when it found that its prey had moved and quickly jumped after Naruto.

Meanwhile Naruto circled around the demon and tried to attack it from the back by throwing a kunai at the back of its neck. However, the kunai simply bounced off the scales, not harming the creature at all. Naruto's attack had of course alerted the demon to where the blonde was and it attacked at the same speed as before. This time Naruto waited for it to get closer before jumping at the creature using the arm that it had stretched out to claw him as a stepping stool to get up to the demon's eye level and knee it in the face, much like Yashka had done to him only a day earlier.

Since the creature didn't have any scales on its face Naruto's attack actually hurt it, but didn't send it flying. So before Naruto could get away, the demon grabbed him by his jacket and tossed him halfway across the arena. The blonde twisted his body around in midair and landed on his toes just in time to avoid another strike from the monster.

"**Use your jutsus!"** yelled Kyuubi.

Naruto blinked as he realized this wasn't a spar between him and the Ancient, so he quickly made several hand seals, "Doton: Tracking Spikes," he said as his palms touched the ground. The dozens of spikes that came up out of the ground didn't just go straight up but followed the movements of the creature, thus cutting him up in several places where the scales didn't cover. After the third or fourth cut the creature got tired of the spikes, spread its wings and rose up above them.

This didn't faze Naruto in the least as he started making new hand seals as soon as he saw the creature spread its wings. "Suiton: Teppo Dama," Naruto then shot out three bullets at the flying creature, but unlike that one time with Gamabunta this demon could maneuver in the air and the bullets simply missed him; the young shinobi mentally kicked himself for not realizing this. As he was consulting with the Kyuubi on what to do the demon swooped down and managed to rip the flesh on Naruto's left shoulder before he could properly block or dodge.

Naruto rolled away while holding his shoulder in pain, '_Damn it! I let my guard down and I paid for it._' The blond quickly looked around the arena for anything he could use, but saw nothing. Meanwhile, the demon had soared up once more and was planning its next attack. '_How the hell do I get up there? It's not like I can fly,'_ Naruto's mind raced to find some answers. The teenager was forced to dodge several more swooping attacks as well as one dive-bombing attack before he mentally slapped himself for his own stupidity.

He was a ninja after all and ninja could walk on walls, as well as ceilings. So he did what the Ancient had started teaching him to do: use his surroundings for as tools. The next time the creature swooped down to attack Naruto quickly ran straight at the nearest wall and then ran up it a little ways, then pushed off of the wall while twisting his body in midair. The creature, it turns out, had stopped its dive and soared up diagonally at the same vertical rate as the blonde had been climbing the wall, thus it was right opposite him when he pushed off.

Naruto couldn't have asked for a better set up, he quickly grew out his claws and slashed at the unarmored spots on the creature's body. The boy only managed to get two slashed in on its arms before the demon soared up and away, leaving the blonde to fall to the ground. Naruto expertly landed in a low crouch and swore as he looked up at the creature. Several of his strikes had grazed the scales and he found that he couldn't penetrate them at all. That didn't leave him with many options, he was sure that water wouldn't do much against the creature but that only left him with Doton and that was practically impossible while the creature was in the air.

'_If only there was some way to bring him down.'_

"**Rip off its wings,"** she grinned slyly. "**That'll bring it down quite quickly."**

'_And how do you propose I do that, almighty fox mistress?'_ he asked sarcastically.

"**Run up the wall and along the ceiling towards it, and give me some control when I ask for it,"** demanded the fox.

Naruto did as she requested, of course when he started getting closer to the creature it shifted away him slightly. However that was long forgotten as he gave the fox partial control and watched as a tail of solid red chakra formed behind him. Then the tail snapped like a whip and flew off like an extra hand to attack the demon. Naruto instantly realized that the Kyuubi was directly controlling this chakra manifestation.

The creature didn't really understand what was going on, but figured that the large red paw that was coming towards him needed to be avoided. However, it wasn't going to be that easy as the Kyuubi directed her chakra-paw to follow the demon, meanwhile telling Naruto to attack again.

Naruto realized he would need a jutsu that he control and since he was pretty far from the ground he was forced to forget about Doton and activate his Suiton Supremacy while doing a couple hand seals, "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu." The water dragon that the blond managed to create out of the water he had previously used for the Teppo Dama, twisted around itself for a couple of seconds before Naruto gained full control over it and made it chase down his opponent.

While Naruto was gaining his bearing after being forced to control a high level jutsu while hanging upside down, the Kyuubi had managed to get several hits on the demon's body. If the first hit didn't get the creature's attention then the second hit that easily cut through a scale on its shin certainly did. Thus after that point the creature was completely concentrated on avoiding the red chakra. It noticed that the chakra paw couldn't extend beyond a certain point and tried to fly as far from source of the chakra as possible.

Just when the creature thought it was safe from the red chakra, it was slammed into by the water dragon. This, of course, gave Kyuubi just enough time to tell Naruto to move closer allowing the fox to attack and rip off the demon's right wing. Once the demon was rendered unable to fly, the Kyuubi released the manifestation. Naruto didn't waste any time and jumped off the ceiling to do a Doton jutsu before the creature could recover.

The teenager did the necessary seals in midair and slammed his palms into the ground as soon as he landed. Naruto had decided to trap the creature in quicksand, and then pull it down under the ground until it couldn't breathe any more. Without its wings the creature could do naught but struggle, thus sinking farther and farther down into the ground. Once the creature was down to its neck in the quicksand, Naruto used a technique similar to Gaara's and crushed the creature's body.

A couple moments later, Naruto watched as the demon's head burst into black mist and disappeared; after which Naruto was teleported out of the training course.

Yashka stood next to him holding the black soul charm with a sour look on his face. "I want to say that you cheated when the Kyuubi created that manifestation, but then again I never directly forbade the Kyuubi to help you."

Naruto rejoiced, "YES! I passed all the training courses!"

Yashka smiled, "Yes, yes, you did. Now you can concentrate completely on the taijutsu training. Also I will be teaching you some long range jutsus since you seem to be lacking."

"I think I did pretty well with what I had."

"Well, for some reason I was sure you knew Raiton jutsus," Yashka shrugged. "Raiton along with Fuiton are the best to use against flying creatures."

Naruto frowned slightly, "But don't I have enough with my Doton and Suiton Supremacies?" It's not that Naruto didn't want to learn more jutsus; he just didn't see other elements as being important.

"While it does seem that you pretty much set when it comes to ninjutsu, how are you going to devise counters and defenses against other elements when you don't even know how to use the other elements?" the Ancient looked at Naruto thoughtfully. "Plus, you never know when a certain skill might come in handy."

"Maybe, but I think I would always be able to improvise," bragged the teenager.

Yashka smirked, "When you need it and don't have it, you sing a different tune." Suddenly a look of realization crossed the Ancient's face and he lifted up his right hand with the index finger pointing, "Oh, that's what I forgot. Naruto, you'll be sparring with my clone today. I just realized I some important business to attend to."

"You expect me to fight after that battle?" asked the blonde incredulously.

Yashka looked at his student strangely, "Yeah, of course, that was but a little skirmish. You can have an hour of rest through meditation if you like, but just because you passed the test doesn't mean I'm going to give you a break." With that he opened a transparent doorway on the other side of which Naruto could see a busy market.

"Where are you going?" wondered Naruto.

"To Noril," replied the young man. "It's a free-trade city in the Karaba Mountains. I'll take you there sometime."

"Right, you do that," replied the teenager. "I, meanwhile, will be meditating and then getting the shit beat out of me by your clone." Yashka laughed before creating a clone and stepping through the doorway, which closed right behind him.

Later that night, Naruto wondered exactly how he had survived through the day. Sure the mediation session restored a lot of his energy, but Yashka-sensei's clone was a relentless attacker. Naruto barely had any room to breathe while being tossed around the battlefield like a rag doll. However, for all his brutality, the clone did often point out Naruto's faults along with suggestions about how to improve, he used more acrobatics in battle than the real Ancient, and he absolutely loved using feints, whether in blocking or attacking. This was a person that would put up his arm to block only to, at the last moment, duck under the attack and counter-attack, all in a mere second.

Naruto trudged into the house to find dinner ready as usual and the Ancient seated at the head of the table chewing on a toothpick. "What took you so long?" he asked. "I was getting ready to eat my toothpick while waiting for you."

The blonde teenager blinked and sweat-dropped, "I'm just a bit tired…" he said sarcastically. "So did you get done whatever it is that you rushed off for?"

"Yeah, I'll tell you all about it after dinner," he replied in an amused yet calm voice, to which Naruto tilted his head. Once dinner was done, Yashka led the way into the living room and gestured towards a medium-sized box that sat on the couch.

"What is it?" cautiously asked Naruto.

"Open it."

"It's for me?" incredulously asked the blonde. "What is it?"

Yashka sighed, "I told you, open it." He stood there with a smile on his face as his student carefully opened the gift box and pulled out a green jacket. "Try it on." Naruto was a little too shocked by the fact that someone had actually given him a gift to disobey.

It was a light jacket that stretched down just to Naruto's hips and had a high collar that covered Naruto's neck completely. Instead of a zipper on the front it had seven or eight button-loops that stuck out a little bit, such that when completely buttoned up one could see between the buttons to the layer underneath, and the sleeves were longer and wider than usual; though they had a draw-string to tighten them up. The jacket had to two standard side pockets and one chest pocket.

However, it wasn't the outside of the jacket that was to be admired, but the inside of the sleeves. The Ancient had sewn in many small pockets, hooks, and pouches all within easy reach if one were to bend their wrist back. This, he said, was where Naruto needed to keep all his weapons so that they were always within quick reach. No more of this bullshit of reaching all the way down to the thigh to get a kunai or shuriken. Not only was this faster and more convenient, but your opponent couldn't just reach into your sleeve and take out your weapon during a fight; and if they tried then they would be practically letting you grab their arm.

"Thank you," said Naruto sincerely.

The Ancient waved it off with a small smile, "You deserved it after passing all the courses. It was the least I could do."

Naruto nodded, "Still, thank you."

"You're very welcome," he responded in a soft tone with an approving nod.

* * *

A/Ns:

DrakoLanisah by SulaMoon (on devart) and the Demon Hunter from Warcraft 3 were used as references for the creature. Bel and Belzebulb by Wen-M (also devart) used as slight refernces for the jacket design.

If you notice any discreptancies in this fic please be so kind as to point them out, I would be quite grateful.

I haven't actually done an evil cliffhanger yet... and we're 12 chaps in... though there's not really anything to cliffhang over...

About the Ancient: There may be small hints into Yashka's past, but I won't do any full scale flashbacks or side stories. If I ever do decide to write about the Ancient's past it'll be an original story. And no, Yashka is not writing notes for a hentai book.  
I wasn't planning on mentioning Proxy Seals until later (when Naruto used them), but it just turned out to be a good opportunity to introduce this jutsu that I created between my Logic Design class and my Physics class :) More info on this technique will come later when Naruto uses it.

Oh and for everyone out there that is afraid I'll drop the story, I can assure you that won't happen; I love this story way too much for that.


	13. Physical Endurance

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! I do own all OCs!

Thank you to all my reviewers!

"blah" speech  
"_blah_" thoughts  
"**blah**" Kyuubi's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Kyuubi's thoughts

Q: Is Naruto almost done with training?  
A: Training is just beginning; I mean it's an entire arc of the story. Though I will start time jumping through the mundane training.

Q: When is Naruto going back to Konoha?  
A: This is a very common question with a very simple answer: when he's done with training, duh. If you want a chapter estimate I can't give you that because I don't know how long, chapters-wise, it is going to take.

Look, I don't care if canon skipped the training, that doesn't mean I'm going to. After all, I believe Naruto's an ignorant moron in canon...

Another thing, I don't really know how to say this but I've changed a lot of the Ancient's plan in the last two months. So I've been rethinking the whole set up of the story, and realized that I have to start showing you guys at least some bits and pieces of it. Hence the flashback that you'll see - it is meant to be vague, I'm just starting to lay down the ground works for it.

**As of 9/23/08**: Changed a jutsu and grammatical changes.

* * *

Chapter 13 – Physical Endurance

Naruto fell to one knee; right hand half-closed in a fist as he fingered the last shuriken with his index and middle fingers. The boy had his head down but knew where his teacher was just by honing in on the soft footsteps on the grass. '_Damn it! Only three projectiles made it through his defense and those only hit his forearms and thighs.'_

"Come on, Naruto," encouraged the Ancient, "I know you can do better than that." The blonde in question scrunched up his face in frustration. "Improvise! You know you can't beat me with these simple attacks."

Naruto pulled the shuriken out of his sleeve and took up a defensive stance just in case Yashka attacked. He _had_ improvised, Naruto's mind screamed at him, he could easily make a shadow clone out of any projectile, and he could make kunai, shuriken, and needles out of dirt – though those weren't too effective – so, all in all, the boy was running out of ideas. There seemed to be no way to sufficiently injure Yashka with projectile weapons.

But Naruto knew he had to be missing something, there had to be an angle he hadn't yet considered; but what? The kunai, shuriken, and needles were completely chakra coated; Naruto had even tried using chakra strings.

"**You know," **started the Kyuubi, "**you've been quite obedient recently."**

'_What the hell are you talking about?'_ wondered Naruto. After not getting a response he tried again, but the Kyuubi would say no more, leaving Naruto to figure it out for himself.

"This is an easy exercise, you know," taunted Yashka as he started circling around the boy.

Naruto suddenly remembered something the Ancient had once said to him, '"If you can't do something literally, do it figuratively. I know it doesn't make sense right now, but when you need it the most you'll realize."' The boy blinked, '_That's it.'_

Uzumaki raised his head and held up half a ram seal with his left hand. A thick mist enveloped the battleground and Naruto threw his remaining shuriken at his teacher, after that he immediately brought his hands together to form seals; replicating the shuriken couple dozen times.

Yashka didn't even bat and eye as he simply focused on the swishing sound shuriken make when cutting through the air. "Blinding me helps, but it won't win you the war," was the cool reminder from Yashka.

However, Naruto had more up his sleeve than just a little mist and a Kage Shuriken no Jutsu. The Ancient found this out when a shuriken grazed his left cheek, immediately after which another embedded itself in his right thigh. '_Oh, I see what he's doing,'_ thought Yashka with a proud smile.

Naruto had taken advantage of the Ancient's arrogance and put a simple genjutsu on him that affected his hearing. The first couple shuriken, Naruto let slip in without the genjutsu so that Yashka would gain confidence and relax; then, he sent the rest in with the genjutsu.

Now, normally Yashka would just sink into the ground to get away from the projectiles, but the ground was Naruto's territory. Going up was the only option now. Yashka didn't particularly like going up into the air, it left a person completely exposed. However, on this occasion he felt that he had the upper hand, '_Let's show him a cool little trick,'_ he thought with a smirk.

The Ancient pushed a bit of chakra into his legs and jumped up over the mist. From up above he could easily Naruto's position, at the same time Naruto saw Yashka. '_Good, better that he sees this,' _though Yashka. The Ancient made half a ram seal with his right hand that he brought up to the tip of his nose and then completely flattened his palm and made a sideways sweeping motion. A thin, transparent, blue platform of chakra, oriented at a 45 degree angle to the ground, appeared to Yashka's right. This he, amazingly, used to push off of with his right foot thus instantly changing his direction.

Also when changing directions, the Ancient had thrown himself into a spin, so now he was closing in on his student even faster. Naruto had been too shocked to properly prepare himself and was forced on the defensive. As soon as Yashka had reached Naruto, he delivered a spin kick powerful enough to send the blonde across the clearing. Using the same speed that he had had while he was falling towards Naruto, Yashka effectively set the pace of the spar to keep his student on the defensive.

This would have been pretty bothersome a couple months back when Naruto had only known one taijutsu style. Not that that style wasn't powerful, but it relied heavily on setting your own tempo and going with it; as the Ancient was doing now. The new style that Naruto had been learning and attempting to master was almost the exact opposite. A style based on defense and strength; the theory of wearing out your opponent before moving in for the kill. The few attacks that it had were all counter-attacks and weren't particularly the fast kind.

This is why, the Ancient had explained, Naruto first had to master the speed style, so that now he would have a much wider variety of attacks to employ. '_One compliments the other,'_ thought Naruto as he held his ground and attempted to get a kick or punch in edgewise. Suddenly he saw a small opening and leg swiped the Ancient, only to have the said man jump up and stand on air.

"What the hell?" wondered Naruto; such distraction, of course, cost the blonde a kick to the face.

"Not bad," evaluated the Ancient. "Your knowledge of the Dragon Wave is pretty good. I think we can move on to the advanced forms now."

Naruto rubbed his jaw as he got up and walked over to his teacher. "What was that thing you just did?"

"It's a spin kick," said Yashka with a sarcastic sparkle in his eyes. "I thought you would know."

Naruto suppressed a sigh, sometimes he really wondered about the Ancient's intelligence and/or sanity. "The standing on air part that you did in order to get that kick past my defenses," was the monotonous clarification of the question.

Yashka smirked, "That was a chakra platform."

"But," Naruto paused to phrase the question better. "I know that chakra can take a physical form, like my Rasengan, but your chakra platform didn't cause damage?"

"It's because of how the platform is built and because I only touch it for a brief moment," explained Yashka. "Actually the platform that I first made was a lot easier to control because it was so big. The tiny ones usually do burn shoes a little, but it would be like holding your shoes to a candle for a second or two."

"How tiny are we talking?"

"Just enough for you to push off."

Naruto nodded, of course, it made sense, why make anything bigger than what you actually need? "It's a simple technique, isn't it?" he asked due to a realization.

"Yeah, especially if you only want to stand on air; you just make a pillow of chakra under your feet. Actually projecting the chakra into a platform somewhere ahead, or behind, you is more complicated, but not difficult."

Naruto smirked, "When do we get started."

"After lunch," Yashka grinned.

The months flew by quickly as Naruto continued his training with the Ancient. It took Naruto close to fifteen months to master the two taijutsu styles he had been learning, the still unnamed one that is based on speed and Dragon Wave. Between practicing taijutsu, Naruto would be studying up on genjutsu, learning several ninjutsus that weren't in his Supremacy range, and most surprising of all he was learning weaponsmithing. The Ancient said that Naruto would make good use of it in the future, and even if he didn't, it's always good to be able to make your own weapons.

Hence Naruto made his own kunai, shuriken, and needles; these being the basic weapons shinobi carry. In addition to those, Yashka suggested that Naruto keep several darts around. Darts, which are basically small needles, are sharp on both ends and half as thick as normal needles. They can easily be concealed between two fingers, and, depending on how they are thrown, they can go through a person or get lodged inside of a person. That's why Naruto keeps his darts coated in poison.

Of course there are several drawbacks. Darts are hard to throw accurately, any wind resistance and they get knocked off track; meaning chakra enhancement is almost a must. As the Ancient pointed out, darts are meant to be used in close combat. "You reach into your sleeve and quickly toss them at your opponent. It's just a quick snap of the wrist and your opponent probably won't realize what happened until after they start feeling the effects of the poison."

When Naruto's fourteenth birthday had rolled around, Yashka had presented him with a sword that had at first looked like a katana. It was sheathed in a black scabbard on which nine beautiful golden tails entwined their way up to the mouth. The handle had a black silk wrap, woven into which was a fox; since the swords would be used one-handedly the handle was only fifteen centimeters. The steel blade gleamed in the sunlight, though unlike a normal katana this was a straight blade and it was double edged. A couple decorative scribbles and many runes were inlaid all along the length of the blade. Protective runes, chakra conductive runes, runes protecting against foreign chakra conduction, were only some. The sword was something Yashka had crafted himself, custom built for the sword style that he would be teaching Naruto.

However, the scabbard previously mentioned was only meant to hold the sword when it wasn't in use, namely while lying on a rack or something. Yashka had made Naruto a different, special, scabbard to be used during and/or between battles. This scabbard looked like two scabbards put together, allowing the transportation of two blades. It was also in the design of a backpack, such that Naruto would have to carry the swords on his back. This scabbard was simply obsidian black in color with ten small golden bumps around each mouth.

One of the two weirdest parts of its construction was that while on his back, Naruto would be reaching down around his hip to pull the swords out instead of over his head. The second being its length, it was only 25 centimeters long as compared to the 70 centimeter blade. Naruto's first thought was that the Ancient had made a mistake, but the sneaky smile on his teacher's face was proof that there was a lot more than met the eye.

"This is something that you won't be learning for a while," explained the Ancient, "but it's one of those elegant conveniences that can't be passed up. One part of your blade will reside in the real world while the other will be in another dimension."

Naruto's eyes widened, "Another dimension, like a summoning?"

"Sort of." The Ancient pointed to the end of the scabbard, "Right here is a permanent portal to a Void dimension. I'll explain more about this later, but for now use it as you would a normal scabbard."

Naruto nodded slowly and carefully inserted his katana into one of the sheaths. The blade easily went in the guard not even making a single noise as it hit the sheath. Naruto rotated the scabbard into a vertical position to test if the blade would fall out; it didn't. The blade wouldn't even budge as the boy tried to shake it out.

Naruto smiled, satisfied that the sword was tightly held by the sheath, and grabbed the handle to pull the sword out. However, even as he pulled with all his strength the blade wouldn't come out. "What the hell?"

Yashka smirked, "You have to apply a bit of chakra to the golden dots; in the correct order, of course."

"Like a code?" asked Naruto.

"Exactly, for now it is set to all of them, but you can reset that into whatever you like once the blade is out," explained Yashka. "Also, those bumps are chakra sensitive, meaning only you will be able to put the sword out."

"So I take it we are going to start kenjutsu training now?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, you'll have to learn several sword styles," summarized the Ancient. "Then integrate swordplay into your taijutsu, all the while learning to channel chakra into your sword and performing jutsus with your sword."

"Anything else?" wondered Naruto assuming a taijutsu and ninjutsu related response.

"I'll also be teaching you blacksmithing," replied Yashka. "So you will be able to sharpen, repair, and make your own blades."

Naruto raised his eyebrows in shock, "Make, why would I need to know how to make swords?"

"Custom weapons are always better if they are made by the user. Oh yeah, I'll have to teach you crafting along with blacksmithing."

"Crafting?"

The Ancient nodded, "Adding magical, or in your case chakra-based, abilities to weapons and armor. The runes you see on your sword are put there through crafting."

Naruto grinned; this crafting thing could be prove very useful. "Also, why did you give me a double scabbard?"

"Because you're going to learn to dual wield."

"Then, where is my second sword?" wondered the blonde.

"You're going to make it when you get good enough at forging," Yashka laughed at the slightly sour expression on Naruto's face. "Don't worry it's not too hard, and if learn it well enough you'll even be able to inscribe Supremacy-like properties into your sword." Naruto eyes instantly lit up at that.

"Which taijutsu style will be easiest to compliment with swordplay?" asked Naruto.

The Ancient shrugged, "Well, I generally don't think of it that way. But if you insist on looking at it as _supplementation_ then it would have to the first style you learned. Speed and agility for the taijutsu supplemented with quick and fancy footwork for the kenjutsu."

"And then all the blocks for the Dragon Wave can be enhanced with swords?"

"No, more like the other way around. The sword blocks are enhanced by the forms of the Dragon Wave."

"I see," responded the boy. "So are we going to train now?"

The Ancient nodded, "Of course, it's only midday. Start off with your normal warm-up and then I'll start teaching you the basics of kenjutsu." Naruto nodded and ran off.

Yashka sighed contently and changed his sitting position into a meditative one. He closed his eyes and reached for the old and almost forgotten memories of basic kenjutsu exercises that his teacher had once showed him. '_It hasn't been that long since my last student,'_ thought Yashka as memories of his old apprentice surfaced. '_Or at least successfully,'_ he grimaced. '_A miscalculation? A mistake? Wishful thinking?'_ it had been all of those, of course, starting with the latter._ 'That and arrogance.'_

Time passed. For the Ancient time always seemed to pass slowly, even if was in his Home dimension and Ningenkai was advancing at a month to day ratio; meaning one month would pass on Earth for everyday in Yashka house. Training seemed to make the passage of time even more boring. Not that Yashka trained, he didn't feel he needed to, he just watched. Watched as his student, Naruto, trained. Watched as the kenjutsu forms he was showing him became more and more complicated. Watched, and dreaded, the passage of six months, in real time.

Naruto was a quick learner, not on a genius level perhaps, but quick none the less. Though, when all you do is train, even the stupidest of the stupid will have to learn something. The Ancient threw the latter thought out of his mind, he knew Naruto wasn't stupid, he might like to masquerade idiocy, but he wasn't actually an idiot.

'_My, my, how time flies,'_ thought Yashka. It is well known that kenjutsu takes many years to master, unless you are a genius. '_Or unless that's all you do all day, every day, for months at a time,'_ and since that's what Yashka has had Naruto doing six months now, Naruto was pretty good. The Ancient might even have ventured to say that Naruto was becoming adept; meaning the crash-course plan was working well. Under better circumstances, the Ancient would have much preferred to teach Naruto at a slower pace, but several nuisances were in the way.

))))) Flashback (((((

Yashka leaned back in his office chair pushing the back of the chair to a 45 degree angle with the floor. He dropped his head back and to the right slowly looking around his large luxurious office. Two large double doors separated this room from the outside world, two black leather sofas were placed in the middle of the room on top of an expensive fury rug facing each other with a low, long, redwood table between them. Several bookshelves lined the walls, again with a redwood hue same as Yashka's desk. The hardwood floor of the office was a deep cherry wood. The Ancient's gaze traced several tapestries hung around and above the bookshelves before dropping down to the recently drawn schematic on the desk in front of him. It stayed there for a couple seconds before going up to meet the gaze of the dark figure sprawled out the sofa to Yashka's right.

"I figured it out," was the simple remark from Yashka. The male figure tilted his head in a gesture of curiosity. "I know why my energy is being drained."

"Because you didn't get enough sleep?" ventured the man in a joking tone.

"No," was the curt response. "You know why large dimensions have to be populated?"

"Because they require quite a bit of energy to sustain, thus the population has to be at least a proportional by a fourth to the size of the dimension. That's basic dimension theory, why?"

"You've been up to the top dimension last, what's the population like?"

The figure nodded, "Small, dwindling."

"Exactly."

"But I thought the crystals would supplement."

"They do give off energy, but they aren't living things," Yashka explained.

"So it transcends dimensions instead of being absorbed by its own."

The Ancient frowned lightly, "Something like that, but the main issue here is that since the population is too small the dimension is draining energy from the only other place it can, me."

"And collapsing it is out of the question?" wondered the figure.

"Do you have any idea what that would do to the balance?" Yashka looked at him as if he was crazy.

"In that case, you would also have to collapse its counter-weight dimension."

"That would be the case if the bottom dimension weren't stable," countered Yashka.

"However, since the bottom dimension is stable, very stable I might add, I can't just collapse it."

The figure eyed Yashka carefully, "And even if you could you wouldn't."

The Ancient sighed, "You know me well. You're right, I wouldn't do it. In the overall scheme of things, quantitatively, the balance would be thrown if I collapsed both." Yashka paused for a moment as he quickly sat up straight, "That leaves only one other possibility."

The figure also sat up, "Then you're going to...?"

"Yes. I would, but complications arise."

"Because of the drain?" ventured the man.

"Yes, I've already worked it out and at the best time to do it I wouldn't have enough energy to destroy both."

"Then just sleep so that you have enough," suggested the figure.

"I would, but as you said the population is dwindling. If it were to completely fall off while I was asleep then it would drain more than I regain."

"Completely nullifying the whole operation."

"Indeed," said Yashka. "Thus leaving me with another, more unorthodox, by my standards, option."

There was a long standing silence as the message was absorbed, which was broken only by the quiet sound of Yashka's note making. "The human world then?" finally asked the figure.

"Of course," was the monotonous response.

The figure rose and walked to the double doors, "I'll scout it out then and report back to you."

"Yes, thank you, Zeph," the figure nodded left.

))))) End Flashback (((((

'_And the reports came back positive,'_ Yashka grinned as he watched Naruto. Yashka slowly mulled over Naruto's progress and the future. '_Six months into the second year, soon it'll be two years. That will leave me with another year before the break, and there's still ninjutsu, kinjutsu, and genjutsu to do.'_

The Ancient knew that Naruto would never really need genjutsu, but he would teach Naruto mid-level illusions nonetheless. Ninjutsu and kinjutsu, which were somewhat same things in Yashka's mind, wouldn't take very long to learn. Since Naruto would be more than well covered by his Supremacies, the focus had to be on taijutsu and kenjutsu. This is why the Ancient wouldn't be teaching Naruto anything else for another year or so.

The Ancient considered his student's progress once more. '_He's picked up enough for now. I'll give him a little break and start with the blacksmithing,'_ he mused.

Naruto had his eyes closed as he focused on the leaves that were falling around him, which he had to slice in half before they touched the ground. The actual slicing wasn't that hard once you got the hang of it, at least for Naruto. The problem was locating every single small leaf that barely affected its surroundings. Luckily for Naruto most leaves had water in them, so they were easier to detect, but not by much. And the fact that Yashka had mentioned in passing that Naruto would have to perform the same exercise while jumping from branch to branch and tree to tree as the next level of kenjutsu training.

The blonde took a deep breath before continuing; not knowing that a whole year would pass before the Ancient taught him anything unrelated to swords, metal, or both at the same time. Naruto's fifteenth came and went with a black trench coat the bottom of which stretches down to a little bit above the ankle, and the sleeves cover halfway down his fingers. The trench coat has many hidden compartments not to mention the weapon holders sewn into the sleeves to hold the throwing weapon periphery.

The Ancient had sheepishly said that he didn't really know what to get Naruto for his fifteenth, but declared that the blonde would absolutely love his sixteenth birthday present. The tone in which it was said and the suppressed maniac laugh that followed made Naruto quite nervous about aging. Though, needless to say, the Kyuubi more than made up for Yashka's lack of creativity. Thus perpetuating Yashka's teasing that the rift between Naruto's physical body and Naruto's mental body, in terms of sexual experience, kept growing and growing.

At fifteen and a half, after a two and a half year break, Naruto was once again learning about ninjutsu. It didn't take long for Naruto to realize that the Ancient didn't fool around with things like Fireball no Jutsu, which he coined "pathetically weak attempts at a fire jutsu." When the Ancient fired off a Karyuu Endan, it was no simple fire dragon. His was a five-headed dragon, each head being the size of Gamabunta's head.

Naruto stared at the charred ground that was well covered by ash. "That's just overkill; mass destruction," he said.

Yashka shrugged, "It gets the job done."

"But at what price on your chakra?"

"To us?" Yashka turned to look at his student. "Almost none; less than five percent for me."

"Well, I guess," was the slow reply.

"Here, let me show you another. I like this one a bit more," said the young man as he crouched down. He performed a bunch of hand seals and placed his fingertips on the ground, only the saying the name of the jutsu for Naruto convenience, "Katon: Fire Circle." Paper thin lines extended from his fingertips drawing a circle with some intricate designs inside. They glowed red for a couple seconds before Yashka snapped his fingers and they exploded, throwing fire all upwards from the lines and at a 45 degree angle around the circle.

"If you're caught in that, you're dead."

Yashka smirked, "Indeed. I usually add a bit more chakra into to make the fire fly farther."

"So, this is a forbidden jutsu, then?" asked Naruto.

"If the Shadow Villages…" he paused at Naruto's confused look. "What?"

"You called them Shadow Villages."

"Because that's what they were originally, Villages Hidden in the Shadows. Now they hide in leaves," he said in a mocking tone, "and with one gust of wind the village is uncovered for everyone to see. The wind blows pretty well in the Fire Country... all right enough with my ranting. If the Hidden Villages, using your terminology, knew about it, then, yes, it would be considered a kinjutsu."

"So are all the jutsus you know forbidden?"

"You're referring to how destructive they are," clarified the Ancient and Naruto nodded.

"Naruto let me give you my take on jutsus and fighting overall: You see, if you want precision killing, then just maneuver yourself close to the enemy and hit them in a critical point; slit their throat, stab them through the heart, take their head, the possibilities are endless.

Jutsus, on the other hand, are made so that you can sit yards away from a compound and still have the power to destroy it and everyone in it. Yes, you _can _make a spike of dirt come up behind a person and stab them through the chest, but why do that when you can just as easily make an inferno come out of the ground annihilating everything around you. Jutsus, in my opinion, should be used with a large intention field.

You're never going to see me do hand seals to perform the fireball jutsu, because in the two or three seconds that it takes to cast, my opponent could very well have teleported themselves behind me and slit my throat as I was concentrating; not to mention how easy it is to dodge a fire attack if you know it's coming at you. No, if I'm going to take my time to do a jutsu, then my opponent will have a _hell_ of a time getting away from it."

Naruto nodded, "Yes, I see. With all the taijutsu and kenjutsu training that I've done I do feel more comfortable taking out a close range opponent with those two as opposed to jutsus."

The Ancient nodded and produced a piece of paper from his pocket. "Now before we start, I want to find out your chakra's nature."

"Nature?" wondered Naruto. "Wouldn't that just be either Doton or Suiton?"

"No, this would the nature that your human body was born with," explained the young man. "Now, feed some chakra into this piece of paper and all will be revealed."

Naruto gave his teacher a weird look before taking the piece of paper and channeling his chakra; the piece of paper was cut in half.

"Ah, wind," commented the Ancient with a nod. "That makes sense. However, something you should know, for reasons that will become apparent to you in six months, I will not actually be training you in Wind nature manipulation; it would be utterly pointless."

Naruto slowly nodded and eyed the Ancient suspiciously. '_This has something to do with my sixteenth birthday.'_

"**Seems the Ancient has something big planned,"** said the Kyuubi.

'_Yes, but what?'_ wondered Naruto.

"**Well, I doubt he would kill or anything,"** she shrugged. "**Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll let me walk around in the real world for a couple of hours."**

'_Yeah right, in your dreams.'_

The fox grinned, "**In yours too."**

Naruto blushed lightly, '_Yes, in mine too.'_

Meanwhile the Ancient was musing out loud. "Let's see here: Suiton, Doton, and Fuiton, so that would make Katon the farthest away. So then we'll start off with Fuiton jutsus first and then move to Raiton," suddenly a revelation hit the immortal and he snickered darkly. '_Suiton and Fuiton with one of them being in supremacy, that's great; since he'll probably retain some of his affinity with Fuiton.'_

Naruto nodded, "So I'm going to learn a really powerful wind jutsu?"

"Of course not," explained Yashka. "First, you have to learn the Fuiton element. So we'll start off with easy things like Wind Slash and Wind Blast."

"And then we'll move to?"

Yashka sighed, "Hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones, and typhoons."

"And for Raiton?" wondered Naruto.

"Let's see here, we have: Shock, Chain Lightning and Nova."

"And the more advanced jutsus?" asked Naruto with sparkles in his eyes.

"You'll find out later," was the callous response. "Now then, there's a little quirk for low-level wind jutsus: they are easier to do with a weapon."

Naruto grinned, "Like a sword, perhaps?"

Yashka smiled, "Yes, a sword is perfect for practicing the Wind Slash jutsu."

While the seasons changed the scenery in the real world, the only changes to the Ancient's training landscape were the effects of the jutsus. Namely the cut up and scorched trees that all got repaired overnight; so in fact the scenery never changed in the training world.

This was one of the reasons why Naruto couldn't really keep track of time passed. He, of course, recognized the years because of his birthday and he guessed the half years, but when it came to counting how long he had been practicing Fuiton and Raiton, he was completely lost. All right, maybe that wasn't exactly the truth. He was completely lost when it came to taijutsu and kenjutsu. Ninjutsu, however, he could figure out better; especially since his teacher had split the training time for both evenly.

Hence, Naruto knew that they were drawing closer to his sixteenth birthday; in fact they were only a couple days away. Kyuubi had guessed that the Ancient had some sort of rite of passage planned for Naruto. This naturally unnerved the blonde a little bit, but also he felt that he needed this. He needed a means to test himself and how far he had come; since the uber powerful Ancient wasn't really a very good indication.

Speaking of the Ancient, the young man had been missing for a whole week now. He left pretty abruptly when Naruto's birthday was mentioned in passing, leaving the blonde and the red-head inside of him to speculate that this birthday 'gift' required extensive planning.

"What do you think Kyuu-chan?" asked Naruto for the umpteenth time.

The fox growled, "**Stop asking me, I told you I don't know."**

"It must be extravagant," Naruto continued to muse, "but I don't think he'd throw me a festival or something."

"**It doesn't have to be anything like that. It could be something that he's making,"** she offered. "**Something that takes a long time to make, you know?"**

Naruto shrugged, he wasn't sure, but neither was she. These were merely possibilities, Naruto doubted anyone had any idea what was going on inside that crazy immortal's head.

The Ancient finally showed up on the night of Naruto's birthday. He was wearing a content, yet anxious smile.

"Where have you been?" wondered Naruto.

"Come, we are going there now," Yashka said quickly and grabbed Naruto's shoulder before the younger man could protest. As both vanished, Naruto saw everything go black for a couple seconds, just like when he had first come to the training dimension.

Naruto looked around and found himself in a huge hallway with light beige walls on which hung several tapestries. Though before he could study his surroundings further the Ancient pointed to a large wooden door that slid open to reveal a very small box-shaped room.

"Come, Naruto, it's an elevator, no need to worry."

The blonde carefully stepped into it and noted that the Ancient pressed a button labeled "C," which Naruto interpreted as cellar, or could it be crypt? They descended for a seemingly long time finally coming to a smooth stop only about 30 seconds later. The door opened to an unlit stone corridor, the end of which Naruto thought he could see a couple dozen meters ahead.

As they stepped out of the elevator, they were instantly assaulted by very cool humid air, like that of a crypt. Yashka took a single torch off a nearby wall, lit it with a small jutsu, and started walking down the corridor. He stopped when he noticed that Naruto wasn't following him.

"What's wrong?" the black-haired man asked.

Naruto was silent for a moment, "You're not going to kill me and chop me up into little pieces, are you?"

Yashka burst out laughing. It took a full minute or two for him to stop. "Oh, that was good," he said he wiped a tear from his eyes. "No, there is not going to be any chopping or killing; at least for you," he the last part as more of an afterthought.

Naruto, being satisfied enough with the answer, followed his teacher into the darkness of the tunnel, constantly wondering what was going to happen to him.

* * *

A/N:

Umm, yeah, I pretty much skipped kenjutsu and blacksmithing/forging because I know next to nothing about both.

I really hated doing the time skip transitions, they're just so abrupt. But I feel that a "X years later" tag is more abrupt. -shrug- I dunno though... I'm just experimenting.

Even though I'm not going to be using the whole chakra nature thing in this story, I thought I'd mention it, and it seemed to fit well with the ninjutsu training. You'll see why this won't work in my story in the next chapter.

Left you guys with the first cliffhanger of the story, since I remember being asked for one...

Next chapter: The ceremony, umm fun -smirk-  
Oh and also the next chapter should be better than this one (which sucked).


	14. Demonic

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! I do own all OCs!

Thank you to all my reviewers!

"blah" speech  
'_blah_' thoughts  
"**blah**" Imprisoned demon's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Imprisoned demon's thoughts

Q: The time dilation, did I really mean 1 day in Yashka's house equals 1 month on earth?  
A: Yes, that is correct. However, just to clear things up, the place where Naruto has been training is NOT Yashka's house.

Q: How will Sakura die?  
A: A little early to be asking that, in my opinion, but alright. When did I say that I would be killing her? OF COURSE, this is ME you're talking about, and I do hate her... In all honesty I don't know how, I've had a lot bigger plot issues to work out.

Big thanks to JohnnyG for betaing the chapter! Everyone needs to check out his fics!

**As of 9/23/08**: Added the lemon. Changed the time dilation coefficient for the Ancient's private dimension. Removed Na'zal and added something else.

* * *

Chapter 14 – Demonic

The corridor ended to reveal a gigantic cave that was at least twice as big as Konoha's arena; though Naruto couldn't be completely sure since it wasn't well lit. In fact, the only sources of light were: Yashka's torch and ten candles set on the floor in the middle of the cavern.

Yashka inserted the torch into a protruding metal ring in the wall and an eerie red glow, which made it possible to make out the important objects, filled the grotto. The glow didn't have any specific source; rather it was just _there_. But this wasn't what had Naruto shocked.

There was an upside-down pentagram on the floor, painted in blood. The ten candles placed on its five corners and five inner points. Six bodies were hanging in midair, in vertical alignment about the pentagram, outlining the corners of a six-pointed star. The bodies alternated between male and female at every point; the males representing the right-side-up triangle and the females representing the upside-down triangle.

"What the hell… is going to happen here?" wondered Naruto. "And what is with those bodies; they are dead, yes?"

Yashka shrugged, "I needed a few virgin sacrifices," he said with a dangerous grin. "And the people are dead, sort of."

Naruto gave his teacher a confused sideways glance, "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Either you're dead or you're alive, there's no middle ground."

"Au contraire, this is a very unique and rare example of the middle ground," explained the Ancient. "You see, they are dead, but I have forced their souls to remain inside the bodies."

"Is that similar to a comatose state?"

"Sort of, except these bodies are not alive by any medical standards."

Naruto nodded, "So what is going to happen?"

Yashka grinned, "We're going to kill two birds with one stone. Or rather the second bird's death will be caused by first one's."

"And what are we killing?" questioned Naruto. "Those people are already dead."

Yashka grinned, it wasn't really that they were killing something, per se; but since Naruto put it that way the Ancient would answer in the same manner. "Your humanity, Naruto-kun, we are going to kill your humanity."

Naruto's jaw hit the floor; the boy's brain could not comprehend what was just said. "W-w-w-wait, wait, wait, come again? You're going to _kill_ my humanity?"

The Ancient scratched his head; it seemed pretty self-explanatory to him. "We are going to get rid of your human side…"

The blond cut him off, "And what will I become?"

"A demon, of course," replied Yashka as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I mean, after all, you have a demon sealed inside of you."

"If this is the first bird, then what is the second?"

Yashka smirked, "The loss of your humanity is the second bird."

Naruto looked confused, "Then what is the first bird?"

"The removal of the seal," declared the Ancient, "the unsealing of the Kyuubi."

Naruto's confusion was instantly replaced with joy, but then went back to confusion. "But if you unseal her, then she'll just take over my body."

"No, her spirit will be placed in a hybrid demonic body that I'm going to make."

"Hybrid demonic?" questioned Naruto. "Why not a regular demonic body?"

For a brief moment the Ancient seemed displeased with the question, but that quickly vanished. "I cannot give you and the Kyuubi true demonic bodies because of several universal limitations. A single true demonic body, already, tilts the balance too much. The hybrid body, on the other hand, will give you access to your full demonic powers and still keep the balance in decent order."

'_It makes sense,'_ thought Naruto.

"**Yes, it does,"** agreed the Kyuubi. "**Since a true demonic body probably radiates pure evil."**

"So how does one unseal a Death God seal?" wondered Naruto.

"By directly breaking the contract with the Shinigami," replied Yashka. "Meaning I will be summoning him."

"You can summon the God of Death?" the blonde asked incredulously.

The ancient raised an eyebrow, "Well, yeah, I do outrank him. We just usually leave each other to our own devices; he's not a very sociable fellah," Yashka added the last part in a whisper.

'_No, somehow I didn't think the Shinigami would be sociable.'_

"**Then those virgin sacrifices must be for the Shinigami,"** reasoned the fox; and Naruto voiced it to his teacher.

"Indeed."

"But I thought that all virgin sacrifices had to be female?"

Yashka scoffed, "A common misconception, or maybe misdirection in a patriarchal society. No, gender is not an issue in sacrificial virginity."

"There's a whole theory behind this, isn't there?"

The Ancient shrugged nonchalantly, "Of course, there's a theory behind most everything. It has to do with the rebirth rate of a soul. The less influence the soul has had on the world around it the higher its rebirth rate."

"And having sex greatly decreases this?" ventured Naruto.

"Exactly, sex is partially a chance action," further explained the Ancient.

"**A chance that a child will be conceived and hence another soul will be brought into the world."**

"And if another soul is brought into the world, then you are sort of tied to it?" guessed Naruto.

"Not tied, no, but you are statistically expected to stay in the world to take care of the baby."

"Statistically, you say?"

Yashka nodded, "Because you are not physically or spiritually bound to the to-be reborn soul it is not, technically, a requirement to care for your child. Statistically, I think 82 percent of all existing souls have stayed to take care of the child, at least somewhat."

"Uh huh," Naruto nodded, still a bit confused. "So what do I have to do?"

"Oh yes," Yashka motioned Naruto to the pentagram. "Strip… okay, you can leave your boxers on."

At first, Naruto gave the Ancient a weird look, but then decided not to argue and did as he was told. "Why a pentagram?" asked the boy after he finished undressing.

"It's not my choice; the Shinigami likes that shape, that's all," Yashka lightly explained. "Now, relax."

Yashka's irises began to glow a bright green as he stretched out his arm in a lifting motion; Naruto's body floated upwards in response. Once Naruto was in position, namely slightly in front of the middle of the six-pointed star, the Ancient spread out Naruto's limbs and locked the boy in place with a snap of his fingers. The immortal then raised himself to the same level and closed his eyes in concentration while carefully gathering chakra to his palms.

"Scribe," Yashka said calmly and placed his left palm on top of his open right hand, the palm of which was pointed at Naruto's navel. A green, laser-like ray came out of his right palm and started tracing Naruto's seal. The Kyuubi cautiously maneuvered around her cage as the green light traced its contour, so as not to get hit and/or step on the green light; who knows, it might be raw chakra. Once the entire seal was outlined and the green ray stopped the Ancient pulled his hands back, sharply yet carefully, pulling the trace of the seal off of Naruto's body.

The Ancient unfurled his hands by rotating his forearms and, at the same time, folded his ring finger and his pinky such that only three fingers remained stretched out. This action sextuplicated the amount of traces and bound each to one of the outstretched fingers. The Ancient then went around putting a seal on each of the sacrificial bodies where it appeared to overlap with some other seal.

Yashka let out a steady breath as he prepared for the next step in the ceremony, the summoning of the Shinigami. Two hand seals later the Ancient had a line of chakra focused on the center of each of the six Shinigami Seals. Suddenly all six seals flashed brightly and then slowly faded to a green glow before slowly making their way out of the dead bodies and into the center of the star, right behind Naruto. The Ancient then said something in a language that neither Naruto nor Kyuubi understood, and the traces combined together revealing the God of Death.

The Shinigami slowly took in his surroundings before focusing on the Ancient with the unspoken question of why.

"To break a soul contract," was the swift reply.

The Shinigami looked neutral, but Yashka knew that he had to be at least a little bit displeased. "Well, I cannot say that you are not well prepared," he noted in relation to the six sacrifices.

The Ancient nodded, "Six virgin souls for the separation of these two."

The Shinigami's eyes traveled down to the boy in front of him. "The Kyuubi contract," his voice rumbled yet did not echo in the cave. "The binding of a demon soul and a human soul… the price to break this is higher than it would normally be."

"Normally it's a soul for a soul," was the calm reply. "But since these two are bound and yet another did the binding, three souls are needed. Then I double up to settle the soul-price difference."

"You have this thought out," remarked the Shinigami.

Yashka smirked arrogantly, "Always."

"Most of the time," corrected the Shinigami in a mocking tone.

The Ancient's eyes narrowed a bit, "This time."

"I don't need to tell you what kind of instability this will cause?"

The Ancient scoffed lightly, "It's not my problem, and besides this is a stand-alone dimension; Ningenkai won't feel the balance change until much later."

"And then what?"

"Then everything will be in motion and it won't matter," replied Yashka with a tone of finality.

The God of Death let that matter drop, "I assume you will be crafting the Kyuubi a new body." Yashka nodded. "Then let us begin."

The dialogue between the Shinigami and the Ancient had been in the same language that the Ancient had used earlier, leaving Naruto and the Kyuubi completely clueless as to what was being said.

"Naruto, I'll need you to synchronize your chakra with the Kyuubi," ordered the Ancient. "Just like you did in meditation."

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes as both he and the Kyuubi slipped into a meditative trance. Yashka signaled the Shinigami to wait until the sync was complete before proceeding with the unsealing. As soon as four, dim chakra tails came out of Naruto's back and curled around the blonde Yashka nodded significantly to the Shinigami.

The six combined seals began to spin rapidly and from the Death God's body the soul of a man slowly appeared. The man's soul then got absorbed into the spinning seal, which instantly afterwards, spiritually, burned through Naruto's body, making the boy arc his back in pain, and aligned itself with Naruto's seal. The seal on Naruto's body began to glow white and red and was soon displaced. It slowly seeped out of Naruto's body carrying with it a red soul.

At this point the Ancient thrust his hand through the center of the seal and into Naruto's body and completely pulled out the Kyuubi's soul from Naruto's body. The four chakra tails turned into real tails, and the boy passed out as an unfathomable amount of chakra rippled through his system. The immortal put a thin barrier on the soul in front of him and let it hang in midair as he prepared for the next phase.

Suddenly Yashka scowled and pulled up his left sleeve where a simple blood seal was drawn. He quickly bit his thumb and wiped it across the seal. Instantly he felt completely refreshed as quite a bit of chakra was added to his system.

"Still using those chakra seals, I see," commented the Shinigami.

"They are useful when interacting with the general populace," replied the Ancient.

"Your eyes changed for a moment," noted the God of Death.

The Ancient blinked as he took a moment to realize what the Shinigami meant. "Yes, they've been doing that a lot lately." The Shinigami stared at his superior for a moment before nodding respectfully and disappearing, taking the combined six seal traces, and thus the souls of the sacrificial bodies, with him.

Yashka quickly refocused on the task in front of him, "Now, Kyuubi, I know you can hear me. I need you to focus on a human-like body that you want to have." He felt an acknowledgement from the soul he was holding and activated Creation in advance, which manifested as a green wave on Yashka's right palm.

Once he felt consent from the fox Yashka pulled back his right arm, letting the Creation element float in midair, allowing it to expand as much as was needed. As soon as the green cloud had expanded to a large enough size, a thin, green beam came out of the center of the cloud and connected to the Kyuubi's soul. Within a second of contact the cloud started changing until it became the exact image that the Kyuubi wanted.

The Creation element by itself could only create an image. In order to make a real body, real skin, bone, and tissue samples would be needed; at least in the current case. So Yashka simply used the skin, bones, and tissues from the six sacrifices as samples. The organs and chakra system, however, had to be completely custom built; using Naruto's body as reference. When it was all done he placed the Kyuubi's soul into the newly created body.

When the Kyuubi's chakra ran through her new body, five chakra tails sprang up from the tailbone and about a minute later materialized into five real tails. Apart from the tails, the Kyuubi had claws on animalistic fingers and toes, fox ears that were on top of her head, fangs, and three whisker marks just like Naruto. Her body didn't move except for the rhythmic chest motions of breathing; after all, the soul needed time to assimilate with the body.

Yashka swung a body over each shoulder and lowered himself to the floor. He gave out a tired sigh and then teleported to the elevator. "I better put them in a bedroom that is far from my own," he mused.

No sooner than he was done with the fox couple and trying to relax in his living room, the Ancient was disturbed by his faithful assistant, Zeph.

"Yashka, I have the information you asked for," said Zeph and handed Yashka two folders.

"Uh huh, last known locations as well as physical and emotional data," commented the Ancient as he skimmed through the files. "Anything interesting happening in the real world?"

"Yes, a new figure is being brought into the game," he replied.

"Oh, a major figure?"

The Ancient's assistant nodded and indicated the second folder, "Yes, he qualifies into the big leagues."

Yashka carefully looked through the folder that Zeph had just handed him. "That's an interesting ability," he commented. "Well, I have nothing better to do, so I may as well go take a look."

"Are you sure you can leave them here alone?" wondered Zeph.

"Of course, they won't be waking up for a while and when they do the first thing on their minds won't have anything to do with leaving the bed."

Zeph smirked and nodded, "Though, I'm surprised you didn't move them to another dimension as soon the unsealing was finished."

Yashka shook his head, "I didn't want to risk it."

"Risk?" wondered Zeph.

"The Kyuubi's soul needs at least a couple days to assimilate with her new body," the Ancient explained. "I'm not going to risk the possible side-effects of dimension hopping."

Zeph nodded, "Because placed a demonic soul into a half-demon body; more so, a body that only recently defined in the global parameters."

The Ancient blinked and mentally picked through his notes on the new species. "Tsk, well that sucks," he said absentmindedly. He responded to his assistant's questioning looking with a more thorough explanation. "You're right I put a demonic soul into one of the prototypes of my new species. This is all well and good, but the problem is that those bodies are defined for the human world."

Realization dawned on Zeph, "The way the world is created there is an assumption that the world in which the body is defined is also the world where the soul assimilation will take place."

"Right, a human is never born in Makai and a demon is never born in Ningenkai. That's how it was always been and the world knows no other way. Both their soul will have to assimilate to 100 percent before I can move them back to the human world," Yashka sighed. "And in the meantime I have to adjust that annoyance. It will take a year to fully propagate, so she and Naruto are stuck here for that duration."

With that they vanished, with Yashka mulling over the new inconvenience and not particularly caring about what had caught his interest before.

An hour hadn't even passed before they reappeared. "He is indeed interesting," said Yashka. "Even ups the ante, I might say."

"So I suppose the stage is set now?"

"More or less," Yashka shrugged.

"What's left is to train Naruto to his capacity, so that he can hold off the Akatsuki with ease," stated Zeph.

"Yes. It's easy enough."

"The next step is very dangerous," Zeph pointed out. "One wrong move and your plans will be destroyed."

"Tsk, my plans will be changed," corrected Yashka. "But in the end I will still achieve my goal; even if it is by a cruder method. You know I'm right."

"I hope you're right."

Yashka laughed, "There is no need to hope for the inevitable."

Naruto awoke to, softness; that was really the only way to explain it. Everything around him was soft, the sheets, the pillows, the comforter, and the woman that was hugging him from the side with an arm draped across his chest. The teenager's mind halted and backtracked, a woman, next to him, in bed? Naruto cracked open one eye and looked around. He was in a large bedroom easily fit for royalty, the wallpaper was simple yet elegant in a flowery pattern of sorts, the ceiling had designs carved into it, a diamond chandelier, big leather chairs, expensive curtains, and rugs. This was most definitely not Kyuubi's cell.

'_Then where the hell am I?'_ wondered Naruto. '_Hey, Kyuubi, you awake?'_ He heard nothing in response. He tried several times only to get the same result. '_Oh wait, that's right…'_ his mind flashed back to the cave, the dead bodies, the Shinigami, and Kyuubi's soul being pulled out of his body.

The teenager turned his head to look at the redhead next to him, who he assumed to be the Kyuubi, and brought his left hand to her cheek, caressing it with his thumb. The vixen purred lightly and shifted closer to him.

"Kyuu-chan," whispered Naruto.

The fox lady opened her eyes, blinking a few times. "Naruto-kun?" she asked and he nodded with a smile on his face. "And we are…?"

Naruto nodded again, "You are free, not bound by the seal anymore."

The Kyuubi smiled, "Naruto, I need to ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Remember that talk we had about becoming mates?" The teenager nodded. "Were you sincere about that?"

Naruto nodded again, "I love you, you know that," he said softly.

The Kyuubi smiled lovingly, "In that case, I need to give you a tattoo that will mark you as my mate."

"All right, go ahead," Naruto complied.

The Kyuubi pushed the blankets off of Naruto's upper body and kissed him lightly over the heart. Then, without warning she sharply bit him on the left side of his chest. Naruto cried out in shock and pain, but took it like a man. After a minute or two, the Kyuubi let go and Naruto could see a black circle inside which five tails, stemming from the top, interlocked with four tails, stemming from the bottom.

"There," she said lightly inspecting her work. "You are now marked as my mate."

"Don't I have to give you one too?" wondered Naruto.

"Nope, because the Fox clan is a matriarchy only the male gets branded with a marriage tattoo," explained the Kyuubi. "Oh and also, now that we are married you are allowed to know my birth name: Sofi."

Naruto titled his head in confusion, "Wait, so 'Kyuubi' is just like a title?"

"Since I am the heir to the Fox clan's throne my title, and/or official name, is determined to by the amount of tails I possessed. Only the ones closest to me know my real birth name."

Naruto smiled and tried to stifle a yawn, "In that case, I can contently go back to sleep in bliss."

Sofi pressed her palm to her lover's cheek, "But before that we have some business to attend to," she grinned.

Naruto grinned back and locked lips with his mate. It didn't take long before their tongues were dancing and fighting with each other for dominance. During the kiss their hands roamed over each other's bodies. Naruto's hands finding Sofi's breasts and giving them a firm squeeze and twisting the nipples a little bit. The fox woman kissed Naruto harder before breaking the kiss and attacking his neck; Naruto drew in a breath as his mate reached a particularly sensitive spot. Sofi smirked lightly as she applied more pressure to that one spot.

Naruto, while enjoying this, also wanted to taste his mate. He massaged her breasts and played with her nipples until she gasped, and using that opening he trailed kisses down her neck hoping that that one sensitive spot she had had stayed the same. The blond was pleasantly surprised to find out that it indeed had stayed the same. Sofi gasped and then moaned as Naruto's mouth went from sucking on her neck to sucking and nibbling on her nipples. She moaned harder and grasped his hair tighter as he actually bit one of her nipples.

"Ah Naruto-kun," she sighed.

"Still like that, I see," he playfully smirked.

Sofi didn't agree or disagree. Instead she hooked her leg with his and pulled their lower bodies together; grinding her pelvis into his in the process.

"Mm, getting anxious, Sofi-chan?" Naruto said as his hand traveled down and started playing with her clit.

The blond noticed quickly that she was practically dripping wet. At the same time Sofi grabbed his dick and squeezed, making Naruto emit a low growl. The fox woman moaned lustfully as she tugged on him and ground her hips into his. Sofi barely noticed as Naruto flipped her over onto her hands and knees, and entered her from behind.

A scream escaped her lips as sharp pain shot through her body and tears welled up at the corners on her eyes. She put her head down on the bed and watched as couple drops of blood fell onto the sheets.

Naruto looked confused and apologetic, "But I thought…" he trailed off as he received a reassuring look from his mate.

"I guess this new body turned out to be a virgin body," the Kyuubi said. "Don't worry, Naruto, it just caught me by surprise; please continue." She then pushed her body backwards and fully impaled herself upon him.

Naruto didn't need anymore encouragement as he moved in and out of her. He started off slowly, but quickly increased the pace until his mate was moaning and panting uncontrollably. Sofi didn't even realize when she started moving against him and keeping up with his thrusts. She screamed in ecstasy – and almost came right then and there – as he thrust into her, and pinched and pulled on her nipples. She did come as he pulled the same trick while biting her neck. With her walls tightening around him, Naruto groaned as he thrust and released deep into her womb.

The two collapsed panting heavily. Once her breathing slowed, Sofi turned and wrapped her arms around Naruto, nuzzling her cheek into his; Naruto could have sworn she was purring.

"Want to go again?" she asked in a sultry tone.

It wasn't until at least day later that Naruto and Kyuubi actually got out of bed. They didn't exactly know how much time had passed, but Naruto's starving stomach was something that they couldn't ignore anymore. They got dressed in the clothes left for them on the dresser, Naruto in his all-black outfit and Sofi in an elegant red kimono with white flowers.

The 'just married' couple slowly made their way along the hall trying to find the Ancient, but it seemed like the hallway would never end. Finally they reached an open staircase leading down to a giant ballroom with a checkered black and white marble floor on the far end of which Yashka sat on a small couch and sipped a cup of coffee. He was intently staring at the blank wall in front of him, and the only indication that he had seen the couple was a small tilt of the white coffee cup in their direction.

Naruto and Kyuubi steadily made their way towards the immortal. "Do you live in a palace or something?" asked Naruto as they got closer.

"Yeah, actually, why?" he replied without looking away from the wall.

"No real reason," mumbled Naruto, "just wondering. Also, how long has it been since the unsealing?"

"Three days," was the quick reply. He put down his cup on a table that rose up out of the nearest black square. Yashka's gaze quickly focused on the couple. "By the way, I hope you two had a good time," he grinned.

Sofi scowled, "Your sheets are bloodied up now; you could have warned me, you know."

Yashka thought for a moment, "Huh, yeah, maybe; I thought 'new body' was pretty self-explanatory." He noticed the glare, but thought nothing of it, "To be completely honest, I just copied from the sacrifices without much thought." He shrugged and put on a sly smile, "But you got some help with that, right?"

Kyuubi smiled demurely, "I suppose."

"So how was your first time?" he asked coyly.

"Oh, Naruto was so nice and gentle," her sly smirk completely belied the innocent look she put on. "Well, as gentle as the circumstances would allow him to be."

Yashka chuckled lightly then grew serious. "In all reality, I have some good news and some bad news; you choose."

"Bad news first," replied Sofi.

The Ancient explained the situation in detail before telling them that it usually takes about a month for a soul to fully assimilate.

"Oh, well a month isn't too long," replied Naruto. "We'll be out of here soon enough."

"Umm, yeah, about that: you're in my private dimension right now."

Naruto and Kyuubi both looked at the Ancient in confusion, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Time runs much slower here."

"How much slower?" wondered Sofi.

"Well, I tried to get the ratio down as much as possible, but was only able to get to 13 to 1. Meaning 1 day in here equals 13 days in the human world," calmly explained the immortal. "You might be interested to know that Earth and Makai are on the same time scale."

Naruto and Kyuubi's jaws dropped to the floor, "You mean over five weeks have passed in the real world?" they yelled simultaneously; Yashka nodded.

"You could have sped up the time," Kyuubi yelled at the Ancient.

"I did," the immortal replied in a flat tone, "it's usually a day-to-month ratio."

"I'm curious," wondered Naruto, "what's the good news?"

"Oh, that you get to keep your bodies and I don't have to make new ones for you," said the Ancient. "So Kyuubi here doesn't have to lose her virginity for a third time."

"So in reality it's just bad news," muttered the blond.

"Don't look so down," said Yashka. "I'm going to be teaching the both of you while we are here. Though, Naruto's training will quite different and more intense than the Kyuubi's since she needs to get her taijutsu polished."

"That's all nice and great, but you wouldn't have anything to eat here, would you?" asked Naruto as eerie ghost-like sounds filled the room; the blond put a hand over his stomach and blushed in embarrassment; Yashka's eyes slowly moved around the room as if he were expecting to really see ghosts.

"Sure," the Ancient held his hand out and made a small flipping motion. A rectangle flipped up from the floor, its surface changing until it looked like a standard door. "The kitchen is through there, eat whatever you want. The other door you'll find inside leads directly to your bedroom," said Yashka. "But you may go to any unlocked room in the castle, as well as outside. I'll find you when it is time." Naruto and his wife hesitantly opened and stepped through this door, which shut behind them.

After their meal –the duo didn't really know whether to call it breakfast, lunch, or dinner– they managed to get outside. After a bit of exploration it turned out that the Ancient did indeed live in a palace, or castle whatever you want to call it. It stood on top of a hill that overlooked a sea of evergreens, on the eastern edge of which a lake could be seen that was maybe two or three miles away.

The front was a huge courtyard that probably made up a third of the whole estate. On one side of the courtyard was a small three-story house that would normally be used to house the staff; attached to it was a sentry tower. The main house was five-stories not including the roof and towers around it that would probably make it the equivalent of ten-stories. The roof was dotted with birdhouse-like windows. The master bedroom was likely on the fourth floor, if the floor-wide balcony was any indication. The walls were made out of some sort of white stone, while the roof was an orange-reddish color. All-in-all the feeling it gave off was a weird mix of a summerhouse retreat and an imposing fortress.

The sun was high in the sky, so the newlyweds decided to go swimming in the lake. On their slow journey there Naruto and Kyuubi talked of many things including the fox lady's home world.

"Makai is very different and at the same time very similar to Ningenkai," explained the Kyuubi. "Both are divided up into territories that are controlled by the different nations; though in Makai these nations are in fact different species. The different species are: fox, dragon, phoenix, gryphon, tanuki, serpent, cat, wolf, and turtle; species are referred to as clans. The turtles are kind of lucky since they are the only salt-water inhabitants they control all the seas and ocean, which actually isn't that much territory, Makai has a lot more freshwater lakes and rivers than oceans and seas. The continent type is Pangaea.

All clans tend to steer clear of each other; leaving their neighbors to their own devices. Wars mostly happen because of territory disputes. Each clan is self-sustaining, there is no real need for trade between clans, and there is minimal political interaction. Of course there have been wars during my world's extensive history and because of them each clan has at least one other clan they hate.

The basic rundown goes like this: the Fox clan is that we hate the Serpent clan; this is one of the main reasons we are good allies with the Dragon clan. The Tanuki clan generally hates us, but we are pretty apathetic towards them. The Phoenix clan, they hate dragons and, by association, us. I don't know what to say about the Gryphon clan, we've been at war with them several times, but it has always been because our allies got into a fight with their allies. We have 'all right' relations with the Cat clan, but don't think that one of them will necessarily help you out of a jam. The Wolf clan, it really depends on the individual. Lastly, there's the Turtle clan, which we have absolutely no contact with because fox territory is landlocked."

"Complicated world, huh?" said Naruto.

"It's a very old world," explained Sofi longingly. "And by the way what I just told you applies in general. It really comes down to the individual."

"I wonder if we'll ever be able to go to Makai?" wondered the blond.

Sofi shrugged, "Maybe, if you ask the Ancient really nicely."

"He's a generally good person, I think he might be more forthcoming than you think," replied Naruto.

"He may be nice and good, but he has an agenda," countered the Kyuubi.

"Everyone has an agenda," remarked the blond.

Kyuubi sighed, "His sardonic personality is starting to rub off on you."

Naruto shrugged, "Sometimes it is necessary to give your adversary a taste or their own medicine." They both laughed as continued on.

It was many hours later, or so they though at least since the sun didn't seem to move, that the Ancient finally appeared next to them on the lakeside.

"Having fun, boy, girl; man, woman; hormonally uncontrolled newlyweds?" asked Yashka.

"'Hormonally uncontrolled newlyweds?'" skeptically asked the Kyuubi.

The immortal shrugged, "I was trying for something more elegant than 'sex-crazed' newlyweds."

"You failed."

"Yeah, I didn't like much either," he shrugged and looked at his watch. "Well, if you guys are done wasting about three and a half days, I think it's high time we started training."

"We've been at the lakeside for three and half days!?" yelled Naruto.

"Speaking in Ningenkai terms, yes."

The blond blinked. Then blinked again as he quickly did the math. "So it's only been a little over six hours. I really should have known you'd pull something like that."

"Seriously, it's like you're still wet behind the ears even after all of these years of dealing with me," the Ancient slowly shook his head in a mocking manner. "Rather sad, if you ask me."

"No one asked you," replied the blond in a flat tone.

"Really, I could have sworn I heard a questioning inflection at the end there," amusement being barely veiled.

Before Naruto could answer the Kyuubi interrupted the whole argument by telling the males to shut up before they gave her a headache. Naruto promptly shut up; Yashka's amused look did not fade, though he too did not make further comments. Before either of the foxes could move a single step the Ancient teleported them to the training facility in his basement of his house.

"Kyuubi, we'll be recapping the same training I did with Naruto," she nodded. "And Naruto, I will be teaching you one of my favorite techniques, which is called Flicker."

* * *

A/Ns:

The ceremony was actually written in the summer of '05 and the six-pointed star, with half being men and the other half women was something I came up with BEFORE reading The Da Vinci Code... I was pretty damn shocked when I realized resemblance...

Before anyone asks: Yes, I'm quite aware that the Kyuubi no longer has nine tails. The thing is that no one (except Yashka, Naruto, and Sofi) knows, so she gets to keep that title for now...


	15. Everything in Between

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto! I do own all original characters!

Thank you to all my reviewers!

"blah" speech  
"_blah_" thoughts  
"**blah**" Imprisoned demon's speech  
"_**blah"**_ Imprisoned demon's thoughts

So, a lot has happened in the time while I was dead. I changed quite a bit in this story (below are the list of changes per chapter; I suggest you re-read the important ones). The biggest of these is the removal of the demonic training world Na'zal. Na'zal actually has a history that is rooted into certain things in the real world back in 2005, back when I had only started writing this story. Those things don't hold true anymore and Na'zal doesn't really fit with the new course of the story; and keeping it has only managed to cause problems. I tried to save it, even to some extend, thinking maybe to refer back to it in flashbacks, but it just wasn't happening. So after much deliberation I have decided to take it out of the story completely. I apologize to anyone that may have been looking forward to it.

EDITED CHAPTERS:  
01 - Add/delete; definite re-read.  
02 - Some changes to Naruto's personality; redressed Naruto; being more explicit about Supremacies.  
03 - Some changes to Naruto's personality.  
04 - Fixed that little error about Naruto knowing Haku's name even though Haku hadn't introduced himself. Small battle details added/edited.  
05 - Added comic relief.  
06 - Added a quick tidbit about angels that will be important later (3rd arc).  
07 - Just some grammatical changes.  
08 - Added a scene between the Ancient and Zeph. Changed the reason for the fight between Naruto and Tsunade.  
09 - Added a short scene between the Ancient and Zeph.  
10 - Ruins fix.  
11 - Added a scene between the Ancient and Zeph (Uchiha history).  
12 - Grammatical changes.  
13 - Changed a jutsu and grammatical changes.  
14 - Added the lemon. Changed the time dilation coefficient for the Ancient's private dimension. Removed Na'zal and added something else.

I will keep refering to the Kyuubi as 'the Kyuubi' even though she doesn't have nine tails anymore. I think it would be more confusing if I started calling her 'the Gobi.'

Ancient-Zeph scenes:  
Decided that a little show-and-tell of the fact that the Ancient has his own agenda was in order. These are meant to be vague; in fact they are re-read several times to make sure sensitive information wasn't revealed. Asking for details about what the Ancient or Zeph meant by a certain line (while interesting and fun to read) will go unanswered (unless I'm feeling particularly generous), unless I screwed up and/or it pertains to information you already know.

**Repost as of 9/25/08.** (I will be making reposts as error catches and/or suggestions come in)

* * *

Chapter 15 - Everything in Between

The Ancient had been recapping and training the Kyuubi in the same things that he had taught Naruto. However, since she had already heard most of it and had even practiced some of the taijutsu styles, this was more of an extended fine-tuning session.

The Kyuubi hadn't just been training with the Ancient. Now that she was out of the seal, she could freely prod the Ancient with questions and analyze his responses. So far the immortal had been playing along, though whether or not he knew about her agenda, he did not let on. It was during one of these question and answer times that the Kyuubi finally asked something that had been bothering her since she was unsealed.

"Hybrid demonic bodies," the fox woman paused to gain Yashka's attention, "You did not give us the whole truth during the unsealing."

Yashka was not perturbed by the question one bit; rather he had been expecting it. "It was a general-overview explanation."

"May I ask for the details?" inquired the woman. "I think I have a right to know the details about my own body."

"Sure," replied the Ancient. "One thing I want to say beforehand is that I did not lie, I really can't give you a purely demonic body because that would tilt the balance of the human world entirely too much."

Sofi nodded, "Yes, I understand that. From that, though, am I to understand that you gave each of us a half-demon body, the summation of which would make it look like only one demon coming to the human plane?"

"No, the hybrid-demonic bodies that I created for you and Naruto are not half-demon bodies," replied the Ancient. "They are stronger than half-demon bodies and in theory – and I must empathize that this is In Theory – your coming back to the human world should upset the balance, but it won't."

"That doesn't make sense."

"That is because you are looking at it from an inhabitant's perspective," simply said the Ancient. He then sighed in a way that Sofi had learned to attribute with a complicated explanation. "I empathized that it was in theory for one simple reason: your hybrid demonic bodies are a new creation of mine and therefore are not defined in the structure of this world. This does not mean that you do not exist. What this means is that this world has no idea what Balance Laws to apply to you from moment of creation."

"Meaning the world just treats us as unknowns?" queried the fox lady. "Also, aren't we in the world right now, so wouldn't these Balance Laws have already come up?"

"I'll answer your last question first. No, my private dimension is not considered part of The World; it is completely standalone," explained the immortal. "Now for your first question, let's take a step back: a regular demon arrives in the human plane. That dimension senses this and references several rules that have been set in place for such events, performs all the necessary functions, and life goes on as normal. Now, the hybrid bodies it has no idea how to react to because, like you said, it is an unknown. So what it does is ask me what do to with it, and from there I can define any rules and conditions I want."

"Dimension versus world?" the Kyuubi inquired in hesitant curiosity.

The Ancient nodded lightly in an understanding way, "I use dimension and world interchangeably; unless I specifically say that I'm referring to The World as a whole."

The fox lady nodded and continued with her previous line of questioning, "So you manipulate this world as you see fit to accommodate your desires?"

"Yes, what's wrong with that?"

There were several things wrong with that from Sofi's point of view; mainly the fact that the Ancient was supposedly the keeper of the balance and hence mostly an observer of the world. While she may have wanted to voice this opinion, she was constantly reminded of the fact that if he hadn't overstepped (in her mind) his boundaries (if there really was such a thing for him) then she and Naruto would have never been separated into two independent beings. While it seemed that the Ancient handled criticism well, at least not outright violently, Sofi did sense that there was a line past which he may not be so amiable; it was a line she did not wish to cross with a God.

So she shook her head in the negative.

"I assume from what you said before that you have fixed this problem and that our new bodies are properly defined."

"Yes, I fixed that little annoying hindrance," replied the immortal. "However, it will take a year, in Earth time, for the change to propagate; that's actually about the same amount of time it will take for your souls to assimilate. Don't ask why it takes so long because a year is just a tick of the geological clock."

"It's almost as if you perfectly planned the entire thing," she muttered.

He shrugged in an unconcerned manner, but his eyes held a bit of mischief, "What makes you think I didn't?"

Even though he said it in a playful tone that question stopped the Kyuubi dead in her tracks, and her mind began to race with the possible implications of such a statement. Though before she could fully develop her conspiracy theory the Ancient's voice cut through her musings.

"You worry too much," he said coolly. "Do you really think I would purposely burn away a year's worth of training on purpose?"

The Kyuubi nodded hesitantly, still reluctant to give up her theory, but instead of continuing with her previous train of though decided to ask whether her and Naruto's supremacies would still work on Ningenkai.

"They should, I set it up that way," he replied calmly. "Though, I did not finalize my decision, so when I take you and Naruto down there the dimension will ask me for a confirmation. At which time I will make any necessary adjustments; this is done to simply make sure that I am not overlooking some important aspect."

"Is it that hard to go back and fix it later?" wondered Sofi.

"It's more tedious and bothersome than anything else."

"So you are just lazy," the fox woman said satirically.

"I prefer to call it: energy efficient." She rolled her eyes, he laughed.

Before the immortal could say anything further a new voice interrupted, "If you are done chatting up my mate could you please teach me this 'Flicker' technique."

Yashka turned around to come face-to-face with a scruffy Naruto. The blond's clothes were torn, there were a couple of leaves in his hair, and splotches of dirt all over his body.

"What'd you do, mud wrestle a kangaroo?" asked Yashka.

The blond resisted the urge to face-fault; it was very difficult, "No, I went through that dimension-long obstacle course you set up to test my speed."

"Oh right," said the Ancient in faked sad voice. "But did you see a kangaroo while you were running around? I lost track of my pet a while ago and I was hoping you might help me."

Now, Naruto knew that the Ancient liked to pull this kind of insane and completely retarded line of questioning to get under his skin just so he could laugh at his victim's reactions. Still, knowing and being able to keep his cool after spending the better part of twelve hours running through an obstacle course were two different things.

"I didn't see your goddamn kangaroo," yelled Naruto. "And if I had I would have eaten it for lunch!"

"Now, now, no need to yell, I don't have hearing problems," replied Yashka in a completely calm tone. "By the way, it would have been very cruel if you had eaten my poor little kangaroo for lunch; very cruel indeed," he added in a sorrowful voice.

The teenager's hands trembled wanting nothing more than to strangle his teacher so that he would shut up. However, he took a deep breath and asked his teacher one more time to teach him the new technique. Yashka chuckled, much to the displeasure of his student, before going through the explanations and examples of one of his favorite techniques.

A month passed quickly, really quickly. Before either Naruto or Kyuubi knew it the Ancient was checking their soul assimilation and telling them that they would be taking a short trip down to the human world before returning to the training dimension.

It was strange, Naruto thought, a whole year had passed in Konoha, but he had only aged a month. Also, in the next six months before he had to return to Konoha he would age by a year and "catch up" as the Ancient put it on the year spent in the Ancient's house. It was confusing, not to mention headache-inducing, so he focused on the fact that he would be a couple months over seventeen when they got back to Konoha. This would also effectively "move" his birthday back a couple months, so that it would now be in the spring; April if his calculations were right. Yes, very strange indeed.

Their stay on Ningenkai took at most an hour. Yashka had teleported them to a very weird place. It was a stadium that had been almost completely consumed by vegetation, just like all the other buildings and structures around it. Naruto was sure that it had been a human town at some point, but it was completely abandoned now. The Ancient muttered something about them being on the other side of the planet, but didn't say anything further.

After, "all the quirks were figured out," as Yashka said the group went back to the training dimension and the more-or-less usual routine started up again. For the next four months Naruto and the Kyuubi trained in taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, kenjutsu, and the combination thereof without much of anything interesting happening. Except one time, when the Ancient took the Kyuubi away for an entire day.

They had teleported away from the training dimension early that morning and appeared in a black and white room; the background was black and the foreground was white. However, as soon as the Ancient started moving more colors were added, like several shades of blue, then gray, and soon it started looking more and more like a control room of sorts.

"This is the astral space where World rules and definitions are held," explained the Ancient. "Tread lightly and don't touch anything, but don't worry you can't fall off the edge or anything silly like that."

Yashka tapped a couple keys, pressed several button, and typed something in a foreign language on a holographic screen, all the while making small talk with the fox lady.

"You've already awakened your second Supremacy," commented the Ancient in an impressed tone.

The Kyuubi nodded, "It's pretty easy when you which elements they are, and since I had water before, I went straight for learning this one. I'll need a couple more days to get reacquainted with it, and then move on to mixing."

Yashka grinned, "Ahead of the curve as always, but that is to be expected from the Fox Prodigy."

She waved off his praises, "Oh please, I worked just as hard as everyone else to be the number one fighter in my family."

"Still you were number one not some other fox, so I guess that intellect helped."

"Oh sure, everyone conveniently forgets that muscles have to trained, endurance has to trained, flexibility has to be trained, any physical aspect has to be trained," she replied perturbed. "What are we doing here anyway? Rather what am I doing here?"

"You are needed in order for you and Naruto to be able to summon."

"I'm going to learn to summon the toads?" the nine-tailed fox that had put a scar over the boss toad's eye was quite skeptic. "Somehow I don't think they'll accept me."

"No, I'm going to make it so that you two can summon foxes," replied the Ancient as he made a 3D image of, what the Kyuubi assumed to be Ningenkai, appear in the middle of the room.

"I've never heard of a fox summoning contract."

"There isn't one, but I'll make you one," said Yashka.

"You can do that?"

"Yes, sort of, not in the traditional way humans do it, but yes," after that reply the immortal was forced to elaborate. "Foxes don't exist as a summoning animal right now, but that can be changed if you were to agree."

"Why me?" wondered the Kyuubi. "It's not like I have magical governing powers over all the foxes on Ningenkai."

"Maybe not that you are aware of, but since you've come to Ningenkai from Makai you have been the strongest fox in the human world," explain Yashka. "By default, it's the strongest fox that is the 'leader' of the foxes and the one that can make such decision for the entire species."

"What ever happened to intelligence?" she asked disdainfully.

Yashka smirked sadly and nodded in understanding, "I needed a default rule; power is the over all best idea."

"Sure, whatever, I agree," replied the Kyuubi taking this new discovery in stride.

"Good, then if you would could you stand inside that sphere?" the fox lady complied. "That sphere is an abstraction of the human world. Using that abstraction and some of your blood, I will construct a blood-bind that will allow you and anyone you bestow a special seal on to summon foxes."

"That's always bothered me, where are these huge building-high summons on Ningenkai?" asked the Kyuubi. "I've never seen them anywhere around the Shinobi World."

"They are on another continent, which is currently not occupied by humans at all."

"And they all live on this continent in peace?" wondered the Kyuubi incredulously.

"They live there like the clans live in Makai," replied Yashka to which the fox lady nodded in understanding.

The procedure was over so quickly the Kyuubi hadn't even realized that it had started. A couple lasers hit her, then the Ancient took a painless blood sample, and before she knew it the sphere had disappeared and the immortal tossed her a scroll about the summoning seal. The scroll explained in detail how to put it on a person and said that if the foxes refused the summoner that the seal wouldn't set.

"So this is where you go when you say you have business?" inquired the Kyuubi. "Your real business, I mean, not just picking up girls."

"No, I don't really go to this place much," replied Yashka.

"Sometimes I think that the worlds you create are just a big playground you make for yourself."

The immortal shrugged, "Maybe. I am young."

"Only a billion years old," said the fox sardonically.

Yashka laughed, "Not even a million."

That definitely caught the Kyuubi's attention, "Wait, seriously? You're not even a million years old?"

The Ancient chuckled, "Nope. I'm not even half a million years old."

Kyuubi's train of thought completely crashed at that wall. It was theoretically impossible that the Ancient wasn't even half a million years old. Suddenly an idea struck her, "You're counting your age from the heavily slowed time of your home dimension," she deduced.

"Well, that's part of it," replied the Ancient as he tilted his head back and seemed to consider something. "I'll tell you a secret, but you have to swear to not tell anyone, even your mate."

Kyuubi noticed the seemingly playful look on the Ancient's face and was about to respond in kind, but then she noticed the deep undercurrent of extreme seriousness. She thought about for a minute before nodding positively.

"Remember, not a word to anyone," warned the Ancient. "I will know if you break your promise and you will learn the hard way that there are much worse things in this world than death."

Kyuubi steeled her resolved and agreed.

"Alright; first a question: how old do you think this world is?" asked Yashka. "Assume all the dimensions in it were created at the same time."

"It has to be at least 100 thousand years old," reasoned the fox. "Makai has ruins that date back past that, but maybe you skewed the numbers somehow."

Yashka nodded, pleasantly surprised by the Kyuubi's intuition, but a small mischievous smile played on his lips. As he uttered his next words, the Kyuubi felt her confidence for anything she held as historical fact fall apart. "It is not even half that; the world is a little over 43 thousand years old."

"But how? That's impossible someone would have noticed," she tried to reason.

Yashka shook his head and continued in a mocking tone, "Noticed? Noticed what? There is no way to notice something that is written into your brain as the absolute truth." He pulled up a screen containing a long list of some sort. "These are all the absolute truths of Makai. No mortal can oppose anything that is written on this list."

Kyuubi managed to make out the carbon dating to a famous temple as 112 thousand years and felt cold chills run all the way down her body.

"This is my eighth world," explained the Ancient. "I have not reached an age where I worry about how perfect my worlds are. I am merely playing around and trying out new things with each consecutive world. While I do try to keep my worlds orderly that is not at the top of my priorities list."

"What are we to you?" asked the Kyuubi, internally scared to death of what the answer would be.

"You and Naruto?" Yashka studied her for moment before answering, "Players in this world?"

"Players to what end?" she asked suspiciously.

"Not an end that will get you killed before your time," reassured the immortal.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't know," was the tired reply. "You simply have my word and I have not lied to you in the past."

Kyuubi was not satisfied with that answer, "Then you really did pick Naruto for his potential?"

"Yes, he has a great potential."

"Great potential to be used as a means to accomplish some plan of yours?" it was more a statement that a question. The Ancient did not respond, so the Kyuubi continued to press. "And what is this plan of yours going to do exactly, could you be so kind as to at least tell me that?"

"Naruto will be helping me correct a flaw that I made when I created this world," was the simply yet very vague reply. "You have already surmised that there would be some sort of fee for my training and you are right."

The fox lady was fuming, the Ancient was purposely giving vague responses and somehow this whole conversation had an ominous feeling about it; she did not like it one bit. "If not death, then what exactly is Naruto going to pay with?"

Yashka decided to cut this conversation short, "You want to know too many things. Need I remind you that you are still under oath; you will not repeat any of this to anyone, especially Naruto." The Kyuubi snarled. "Or I could wipe your memory of these events? It is your choice."

"I'll keep my mouth shut," she replied begrudgingly through a half snarl. Yashka accepted her oath silently.

Once that was done they returned to the training dimension and the Kyuubi put the seal on Naruto and he summoned a very cute white fox that instantly took a liking to him.

After their conversation the Kyuubi never again felt fully comfortable around the Ancient. Naruto noticed this, but as neither side would provide an explanation he was forced to leave it alone. The only thing Naruto ever got out of his mate was a snarled out muttering that the Ancient held more secrets there were trees in a forest.

Yashka did not worry too much. After all, memories could be wiped and animosity could be fixed by the need to act before the need to think.

As previously noted, it is really hard to tell the passing of time if your surroundings don't change from day to day. This is why Naruto is forced to bring the subject of time yet again at the breakfast table.

"We have 1 months, 29 days, 6 hours, and 43 minutes before you are due back in Konoha," replied the Ancient. "In this dimension that translates into 3 months, 28 days, 13 hours, and 26 minutes."

"You keep track down to the minutes?" asked Naruto deadpanned.

"Yeah, I like to be prompt," replied Yashka.

"You're insane," muttered the blond.

"Thank you, I like being unique," the immortal blatantly ignored the next comment about it not being a compliment. "On the note of time, we are moving out in about a week."

"And going where?" wondered Sofi.

"To visit your kin in the human world."

"My kin?" wondered the Kyuubi. "I do not remember having any kits."

"A great uncle of yours was sent down to Ningenkai before you were born," explained the Ancient. "His passing is what prompted your own transportation to that world."

"Why are we going to meet them?" asked the teenager.

"They will be the Kyuubi's cover story for when she goes to Konoha," said Yashka. "Plus, I'm going to start giving you a crash course on the Void World, which you can only access in the human world."

"Void World?" inquired Naruto.

"It is what I use to teleport us," answered Yashka. "It is also what I sometimes use to cheat with Flicker."

"What does it do exactly?"

"It creates a dimension in Void Space, which is basically free space anywhere close to large dimensions. It's a small dimension in which you can control time, space, and orientation dilation. The easiest thing to do though is to make a overlay of your current battlefield and use time dilation."

"So that I can get across, say, a stadium in a millisecond?" asked Naruto joyfully.

"Yes," replied the Ancient and watched as his student's grin spread across his entire face. "However, before you start getting crazy illusions of grandeur, it is a very expensive technique. A simple overlay without time dilation and one that you can only use once would cost you ten percent of your chakra."

The former jinchuuriki's eyes widened, "Ten percent?"

"That's right, you can't just constantly use the Void through out the entire battle," said the immortal. "It's more of a finishing move type of jutsu, or you use it to get behind your opponent."

"What did you mean by 'use once?'" inquired the Kyuubi.

"What I mean is that it disappears as soon as its creator leaves it. Reusable Voids take more chakra, like 30 percent, and have a five second counter to stay open without the presence of its creator. Well, it's 30 percent plus a small fee of about 0.3 percent for each entrance."

"Time dilation would then really drain my chakra?" asked Naruto.

"Oh yes, each doubling would cost you about ten percent," replied Yashka.

Naruto was perplexed, "So how do you do it?"

"I use Creation," was the simple reply. "It effectively cuts those figures by 100, or gets rid of them altogether."

"Lucky bastard."

The Ancient shrugged, "It's part of the job description."

"Hold on a moment, you said the Void dimension disappears as soon as its creators leaves it," analyzed Kyuubi to which the Ancient nodded. "How long does its creator have to get into it before it disappears? On that note, how does one get hop dimensions?"

Yashka nodded in approval, "Good question. The way the Void is set up in this World is that the Void's creator gets transported into it as soon as it is created."

"Then how does one get out?" wondered Naruto.

"You set through the exit portal," answered Yashka as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Which you define either during creation or while you are inside the dimension."

"I'm guessing you'll teach us how to create these dimension and then enter them and show us the ropes," reasoned the blond.

"No," was the curt reply, which earned him two very confused looks. "It's actually very hard find a Void dimension in all of Void Space; almost impossible actually. If all three of us created a Void dimension that would overlay this house, we wouldn't all get teleported to the same Void dimension, we would all get our separate dimensions.

This is because the overlay is simply an abstraction of a Void dimension. An overlay defines size, shape, terrain, and obstacles. Location is not defined it is randomly selected in an area of Void Space that can accommodate the definitions you ask for. Plus, if you think about it, two dimensions cannot exist in the same space. Hence an overlay cannot physically be in the same space as the human world, the demon world, or the angel world."

It turned out that Kyuubi's kin were even further north than the Snow Country and quite far from the Shinobi World; needless to say it was extremely cold there. The Kyuubi quickly transformed into her more furry form and pulled her white, furry, leather coat closed while hiding her hands into its soft pockets. She and Naruto were finally forced to channel chakra to their extremities to keep warm.

Though the cold didn't seem to bother Naruto too much, but that was probably because he was too preoccupies with playing with his tails. The Ancient had placed a seal on Naruto that would keep his hybrid demonic body looking human for five years. Said seal was "paused" as the Ancient put it his some sort of backdoor password. So now the blond was busy examining and playing with his newly discovered physical aspects.

"Why'd you have to place the seal on my back?" asked the blond once again in a whiny voice. "On that note, doesn't that also mean that my body is being held back by the seal?"

The Ancient was quickly getting annoyed of both of those questions, "So that you wouldn't unseal it on your own or even worse screw it up in such a way that you would be physically deformed for life. I thought we've gone over this enough times, the seal just represses your ability to transform everything else stays the same."

"I guess when you put it like that," drawled Naruto.

"Don't want you looking like a hippo," commented the Kyuubi.

"Would you leave me if I turned into a hippo?" wondered the teenager.

"Yes, I would," said the fox lady deadpanned.

Naruto face fell into a deep frown, "That's so cruel."

Sofi smiled, "I'm kidding; you're so easy to tease," she quickly looped her arm around his and pushed her body right along his.

"You can continue this in the bedroom," Yashka didn't even bat an eye. "We are approaching the town."

The pair ignored his first comment, "I don't see why we couldn't have teleported inside the town."

"That would cause quite a commotion," was the steady reply.

"But you don't care about commotions," Naruto pointed out. "I think you just did it because you like to make us suffer."

"I like a lot of things," he paused for a moment. "Having sex with a two-tail is especially fun."

Naruto quickly shook his head as a dozen scenarios flooded his head, "You know what, I really don't want to know." The Ancient threw his head back and laughed, no doubt clearly amused by how perverted his student's thoughts were.

"I do wish you'd have let these bodies transform into full demonic forms," said the fox lady longingly.

"You miss being of skyscraper height?" coyly remarked the Ancient. "Sorry, no can do, but I am able to grant you as much of a half-demon form as your kin have."

Once they got to the city, it turned out that introductions were unnecessary as half-demon fox humans, or the Kitsuma as they called themselves, could tell just who the Kyuubi was by feeling her chakra. The gate guards and the general populace were all but bowing to her and Naruto, while the head of the town had offered up her room to the visiting couple. Kyuubi, being royalty, was used to such treatment. Naruto found it to be strange and somewhat unnerving.

Kyuubi handled the formalities like refusing the town leader's own room and instead requesting a guest room, as well as requesting a meal, and maybe some entertainment. Naruto, self-consciously, though that they were asking for too much and that the town head, who had introduced herself as Anzu, would throw them out soon. Sofi assured him that nothing like that would happen, especially with the Ancient present, and that instead the town would probably throw them a banquet.

The Ancient was surprisingly quiet throughout all this, almost fading into the shadows; whether that was intentional or not, no one knew. Though, when offered a place to stay he had politely refused stating that he had business to attend to later on and would not be staying for the night.

Naruto and Sofi has learned long ago that it was pointless to ask the Ancient what business he had to attend to and for how long he would be gone. If was going to share with them what he had done he would do so. Though, the first time he had done so they found out that he went to the Cloud Country to pick up three girls to have fun with in a motel. The dark-haired man had gotten quite a laugh out of their reaction. Of course this wasn't always the case, he would sometimes come back muttering angrily; the few times that they picked out what he said it something about war and instability and stupid bastards.

True to his word, Yashka left about halfway through the banquet, but not before whispering to Naruto that they were welcome stay here until he got back. As if Naruto and the Kyuubi had somewhere else to go. The immortal showed up a couple days later and dragged Naruto out of the nice warm house to train in the freezing cold.

They walked quite a ways from the Kitsuma's town during which time Naruto noticed that the Ancient never seemed to be affected by the elements. Voicing his thoughts had provided him quite a simple answer that Yashka was at one with nature and that such things as weather conditions simply didn't concern him.

Yashka suddenly stopped and used a bit of wind to blow away the snow on the ground. "Do you know what we are standing on?" he asked the teenager.

Naruto looked down and saw white ground that vaguely resembled ice, but didn't have the slippery factor of ice; he shook his head.

"We are standing on a glacier," was the calm reply; Yashka had not expected Naruto to know. "It is basically a giant slab of ice."

"I know what a glacier is," replied the blond before the Ancient could go into a full lecture.

"I want you to break off a chunk as big as a cottage," instructed the immortal. "No fire jutsus, you can't use raw chakra to cut it, nor can you use your swords. This has to be done through straight manipulation of the element."

"Ice is not an element."

"Ice is said to be created when Suiton affinity meets Fuiton affinity, but for you ice is like metal."

Naruto's eyebrows rose at that, "Ice is the extension of the Suiton Supremacy?"

"No. It is an ability provided by the final stage of the Suiton Supremacy."

"So am I to understand that I can manipulate ice, but not create it?" wondered Naruto.

"No, I'm pretty sure you will be able to create it," replied Yashka. "However, I think the initial exercises should be in manipulation rather than creation."

"How would I go about creating ice?"

"Same way you create water," was the nonchalant reply.

"But you said that a Fuiton affinity is needed in order to create ice."

Yashka nodded, "Yes, and you had such an affinity before gaining your new body. Don't think that everything has completely changed with your new body, your wind affinity was quite strong and bits of it carried over. However, even if you didn't have it Suiton Supremacy is designed in such a way that the Fuiton aspect is supplemented for the user. What this means for you is that it will be even easier to create ice."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, something that's been bothering for a while now," the Ancient nodded for him to continue. "If the human body is 70 percent water, why can't I control it and make someone blow up?"

Yashka smiled, "And on that note why can't you make it freeze? Remember when we had the talk about not being able to make an ocean disappear or make the Earth split in half," Naruto nodded. "Same basic principal, the World Preservers are constantly in effect. Being able to make humans blow up, could very well lead to the destruction of the entire species, so that power is taken away."

"More Supremacy limitations," said Naruto.

"Everything has a glass ceiling."

"Oh yes, the inevitable glass ceiling," sarcastically replied the blond. "That I can look through and see that which I wish I could get to."

The immortal merely shrugged in a 'that's how it is and I can't do anything about it' way before telling Naruto once again to perform his given task. The blond didn't manage to do it that day, or the day after, or the day after that. On the fourth day he finally found out that the Ancient was actually trying to rush the Suiton Supremacy by having it interact with the native environment of the final stage; the supremacy wasn't being very obedient.

"I'm giving you two a vacation until we are due back in Konoha," suddenly said Yashka. "You can choose to go anywhere you want." He then tossed Naruto a thin electronic device. "That will teleport you to any major location on this world and it can teleport you to the training dimension; sorry but my house is out of bounds."

"Thank you."

The immortal nodded in acknowledgement, "I'll come back for you in about six weeks and we'll go back to Konoha."

"Do we have to?" asked Naruto in a slightly whiny tone.

"Yes," was the straightforward answer. "I did give my word and you still have some unfinished business there."

Naruto suddenly looked hesitant, "You know, destroying Konoha isn't at the top of my priorities anymore."

"You would rather leave them alive to hunt you and your mate?" countered the Ancient.

"They wouldn't…" he trailed off not sure of this himself.

"Really? They wouldn't?"

"They wouldn't find us here," improvised the blond.

"You are sure? You would bet your life, your mate's life, and the life of the people here?" The Ancient maneuvered him into an ultimatum. "If your resolve is absolute then I will let you stay here, but if you have even one sliver of doubt you should eliminate it."

Naruto knew his teacher was right. There would always be a possibility that Konoha shinobi would find him here. They would live in fear, in constant paranoia, that someone would come for them.

"Fearing every single stranger, avoiding conversations about your past, constantly watching and checking that your walls don't have ears, is that the kind of life you want for your family?" asked Yashka. He paused to allow the blond to consider it and waited for the look of the answer he was looking for. "I know what your answer is and your reasoning behind it that is why I will be back in six weeks to take you to your place of unfinished business."

Naruto solemnly nodded and muttered out, "Ok, I'll be ready to go in six weeks." After all, the Ancient was right his biggest reason for leaving Konoha was for freedom. What kind of freedom would he have if he was constantly on the run? Also, he wasn't alone anymore, he had to worry for Sofi and the family he would have in the future.

Meanwhile the Ancient had teleported away to a very noisy place. Well, more like there was one person yelling and the other was cowering; the immortal found it entertaining as he stayed invisible waiting for the right time to reveal himself.

"Where the hell is he Jiraiya?" screamed the Godaime Hokage.

The toad hermit wanted to just be able to disappear. He didn't know where the hell the Ancient was. All he had to maybe curb his teammate's anger was the Ancient's word that Naruto would be back to Konoha. This, of course, would prove problematic since it was supposed to have him that was training the jinchuuriki.

He decided to just bite the bullet and tell her the truth. "I left him in the Ancient's care."

Tsunade paused in her tirade to consider the pervert's response. "The Ancient?"

"Yes, he gave me his word that he would bring Naruto back to Konoha within three years."

"You wouldn't happen to have that in writing, would you?" she asked in a suspiciously calm tone.

Jiraiya paled; he did not have it in writing. He was dead, he was sure of it. Tsunade would kill him for something he had absolutely no control over. However, before anything could happen, a soft voice from opposite side of the room interjected.

"You wouldn't happen to be doubting my word, would you?"

The pair snapped their heads in the direction of the voice to find a man dressed in all white standing there in a regal manner with a slightly amused look on his face. The worst part of it was the two sannin still couldn't sense this guy's presence.

"My, my, Hime-Tsu you haven't aged much since I last you," he complimented. "Your breasts did get larger I think."

The Hokage gritted her teeth together resisting the urge to punch him. "You're still a flirt, I see."

He shook his head from side to side considering it, "Guilty as charged," he said with a smirk, which faded as he noticed the other person in room groveling at his feet.

"Please, tell her that you will have Naruto back here soon and that it wasn't my fault that you took him in the first place."

"If by not your fault you mean that you would never have been able to bring out Naruto's full potential, then yes, it is not your fault that you would have been peeking at girls more than training him." This had the desired response of Jiraiya trying to stutter out a responses and Tsunade getting angry and punching him out of the office; again Yashka found this amusing.

"I hope that you will excuse any rudeness on my part," Tsunade bowed lightly. "I was expecting to have Naruto back two and a half years after he left."

Yashka waved her off with a small smile that showed that he was a lot more amused than insulted. "I was told by the man you ejected from your office that Naruto had to be back in Konoha in three years. As such, I have arranged that he will be back in six week, if that is fine with you?"

The Godaime could not bring herself to object. After all, this was the creator of the world standing in front of her.

"Good," the Ancient nodded and made to leave.

"Wait!" the man halted and waited for her question. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you train Naruto?"

"I don't mind," was the tranquil reply. "Naruto peaked my interest."

"Surely it was more complicated than that?"

The tranquil voice continued, though now there a hint of finality in it, "Even if that were the case, I would not be discussing such things with you." He smiled lightly to show that he didn't mean harm. "I will take my leave now Hime-Tsu. Oh yes, please enter Naruto in the next Chuunin Exam, I believe he will make it in time. Even if there is no team available I will insist that he participate."

With that he disappeared and Tsunade released a breath she didn't know she was holding and plopped down in her chair. It was lot of digest all at once. The Ancient training Naruto meant that Naruto had a potential higher than the Yondaime; that was a scary thought.

If the Ancient were to insist that someone participate in something it means that that person would participate, even if he is a one-man team, or else God got angry at you. She, along with Jiraiya and Orochimaru, had witnessed what happened when someone angered the Ancient. It was after that battle, or maybe she should call it a slaughter since the Ancient's clothes didn't even get damaged, that he had introduced himself to the three of them and nicknamed Tsunade 'Hime-Tsu.'

He had wiped out two battalions, 12 shinobi each, in under a minute; all of them were jounin. It was an ambush meant for her team, the Ancient just happened to be resting in that particular place; they attacked him and he retaliated. The ease with which it was done, the speed, and the fact that the man wasn't even slightly winded afterwards showed the sannin just how dangerous he was; Tsunade still shivered when she thought of that incident.

"You believe me now?" asked a familiar voice from the window. The Godaime nodded. "He challenged me to a duel to see who would be Naruto's teacher; the first thought in my head was the slaughter."

Tsunade nodded again, and relayed the conversation she had with the Ancient after Jiraiya had left.

"Remember those tattoos we saw on Naruto's body?" the Hokage nodded. "My theory is that the Ancient gave him those tattoos and that during that trip when I would leave him alone to train the Rasengan that was when he first met the Ancient."

"What do you think those tattoos do?"

"Hyuuga Neji's report about Sasuke's rescue mission stated that Naruto had brought down the chakra-stealing earth dome by applying a minimal amount of charka at the dome's weakest point," explained the hermit. "I think those tattoos give him an innate control over Doton."

"You think they are seals that force a Doton affinity?"

Jiraiya shrugged, "Maybe not force, but at least heighten it."

Tsunade was skeptical, "That's a little far fetched that a seal would be able to do that."

"Far fetched for whom, us?" countered Jiraiya. "Yes, for us it might seem far fetched, but what about Him? Do you think the Ancient has such boundaries as affinities? Maybe he can even give Naruto an affinity in all the elements."

"Like the Rin'negan?" questioned Tsunade.

"It is a bloodline," replied Jiraiya feverishly. "What would stop the Ancient from giving out bloodlines? I mean he is all-powerful."

The Godaime shook her head, "Now you are just talking crazy Jiraiya. At that rate the Ancient could pick up any student and make him as powerful as he wants."

Jiraiya frowned for a moment he improvised, "Maybe he needs a certain body type for these alterations to be possible."

"No, Jiraiya, stop," calmly replied Tsunade. "This is God you are talking about he can create people, he doesn't need to search for specific body types. So don't, just drop this, Naruto will be here in six weeks and we will get our answers then."

Yashka had disappeared, but only from view he hadn't teleported away. The talk between Jiraiya and Tsunade had been interesting. He found it funny that Jiraiya was pretty close to the truth in the beginning and then completely drifted into madness at the end.

This Rin'negan did seem interesting though, affinity in all elements if the hermit was spot-on with his definition. He would have to ask Zeph about this he was the one with thorough knowledge of the Shinobi World.

'_That's right, Pein in the Akatsuki,'_ Yashka suddenly remembered. '_I will need a DNA sample; if this is what I think it is.'_

Now that he had determined his destination, he teleported away.

Yashka calmly sat down on the balcony railing of the fifth floor of his castle putting his right foot on it and leaning his back against a short column on top of which sat a now empty flower pot. He swirled the blood-red wine in its glass as he looked out over his domain.

A figure materialize out of nowhere in the doorway and stepped closed to Yashka.

"Pein," Yashka started off.

"Is a descendant of yours," finished the man as he grew out his hair back to its usual length reaching the small of his back and changed its color back to silver. "The special gene that would normally be dormant in mortals is what is giving him his bloodline."

"Radiation will do that," Yashka sighed. "How many generations was it, three? Three generations of humans living on radioactive lands, eating radioactive crops and animals, and we were actually surprised that they acquired ninjutsu."

"The Sage of Six Paths was also a Rin'negan user," remarked Zeph. "The radioactivity brought the 'Ancient gene' out of its dormancy and the fact that he chose Creation only made it that much easier to give everyone else he knew either a bloodline or insanely powerful abilities."

"The first and last person to choose Creation over Destruction," scoffed the immortal. "It's ironic, they choose the element that is not only sealed away, but also the one that is completely useless except in one kind of situation."

"It is a subconscious choice," endorsed Zeph, "and they don't know the finer workings and differences between Creation and Destruction."

The Ancient smirked, "They don't know that Creation is more powerful; Creation breeds Destruction because you can create things are destroys and Destruction only destroys. Not to mention the fact that they only gain a slight increase in power because even I don't have access to the element of Destruction."

Yashka and Zeph shared a mocking laugh before both settled on observing the never-changing scenery.

After a long silence, the Ancient brought up a topic that he had yet to mention to his assistant, "By the way, I told her the real age of this world."

"How did she take it?" wondered the assistant.

"Not too bad."

"Does she suspect anything?" asked Zeph in a somber voice.

Yashka shook his head and took a sip of wine, "Not enough that it would warrant intervention, so relax."

"You should have erased her memory," insisted Zeph.

The Ancient waved him off, "The final act is a chain reaction, the entire scope of which only you and I see. To the inhabitants it will look like a bunch of coincidental events that they will not even pay attention to until it is too late; and there won't be any retrospect."

Zeph dropped the argument choosing to relax instead, and the Ancient continued swirling his wine analogizing the small action needed to swirl the liquid to the small action needed to swirl the world.

* * *

A/N:

This chapter feels rushed... / Oh well.

**Disclaimer**: I am not religious, I do not support the theory of Creation, nor do I believe that the artifacts and bones archaeologists find were put there by a higher entity. However, the last two work very well in this story and I do not mind setting aside my personal beliefs for the sake of the story.

This chapter does mark the end of the second arc. The next arc will be set in Konoha with flashbacks to details of techniques (because I firmly believe that any marginally not retarded person would not explain his/her technique to his/her opponent). I can't see the 3rd arc spanning more than 10 chapters.

Chapter 16: Naruto comes back to Konoha; and all the chaos that that brings. The Ancient comes along to torment the foolish mortals for his own personal pleasure.


End file.
